Just Being Us
by Mchovey
Summary: Shadow does not understand a lot about the world around him that he was thrust into. He understand even less about himself. So when he and sonic develop a new and strange relationship they both find there is so much to learn about each other. ( Sonadow ) I might get brave and include smut.
1. Web Of Lies

Ch .1 Web of Lies

Shadow stared thoughtfully at the small sea side cottage. One might think he was spacing out given his blank stare, but in reality he was plotting his next move. "Ahh...damn it," he cursed under his breath. Why was he even here shadow thought to himself as he glared holes into the wooden door separating him from his current obsession. To him it was ridiculous. He receives very few off days from his employers, G.U.N, and here he was spending it trying to figure out how he was going to confront the blue nuisance and convince him to " hangout " without seeming to desperate of course.

Oh and how he did not want to seem desperate...

Ever since this little obsession decided to rear it's ugly head shadow has been in constant battle with himself. He is constantly at arms over how much interest he should show in the blue hedgehog without looking like some lost puppy. He would never admit that he actually enjoys the banter and playful remarks between the two sides. Or how he gets a thrill from just being close to the blue one and his cheesy yet charming and caring ways.

Wait...

Scratch that. Shadow shook his head slightly trying to clear it. For being The Ultimate Lifeform he sure had a hard time with the simple stuff, like crowds, or Social ques, or handling emotions...

"Shadow?"

A voice came from a slight distance away, snapping Shadow out of his trance. He looked up to find a confused Sonic the hedgehog with a garbage bag in hand standing outside of his front door. " umm... " the blue hog hummed with a look of confusion and intreage plastered on his face. Shadow's back shot straight up as he scrambled to find words but the only thing he could manage to get out was his usual rehearsed lines of, " well I- it's about time you..." shadow trailed off realizing how stupid what he was about to say was. " anyway, we don't have time for this Faker. We are needed at once." Shadow stated trying to think of what he will say next. To cover up the awkward situation he had carelessly made for himself. " oh... and who may I ask needs us?" Sonic

quickly retorted without a second thought. "G.U.N" shadow blurted out, "rouge and omega could not accompany me for this mission, so gun ordered me to work with you on this one... n- not that I need it." Chaos, he was a terrible liar.

It was true shadow was the worst liar. Everything the dark hedgehog every said, be it sometimes hash, was always the truth, At least he believed it to be true. He believed liars where the scum of the earth... but gods sometimes he wished he could have such a skill.

"Well I didn't get that memo, does G.U.N think that they can just order anyone the they want around now?" Sonic stated seeming slightly miffed. "I agree, absolutely asinine, I thought I would just give you a courtesy call, but I can handle this mission well enough on my own." Shadow was almost out of the woods and could forget this whole string of pointless lies when sonic suddenly said, "nah I'll tag along, might as well, I've got nothing better to do." Shadow's heart sank. "Besides, I'm always down for a Sonic and Shadow adventure." Sonic said as he finally put the bag from his hand in the garbage can, and zipped over to were shadow was standing giving a signature smirk. Shadow turned forward with a grunt, secretly hiding the heat that was spreading across his face.

"sooo... where are Rouge and Omega by the way?" "Hmm?"Shadow looked back at Sonic confused for a moment but then realized "oh um... Rouge is at the dentist and Omega has a ... waxing... appointment." Shadow wanted to face palm... no, he wanted to kick himself. Sonic looked back at the dark toned liar with what looked like suspicion. Shadow thought he was certainty caught in his own web when he could see Sonic's right eye brow start to curve downward, but suddenly it shot back up to its normal resting position. "Oh." And that's all that came out of the blue hero's mouth. Could he have bought it, Shadow thought? Maybe his luck was turning around, not enough though because now the black and red hog had to take the sapphire hero to a mission that does not exist.

Shadow tried to play it cool maintaining his natural poker face as he set off in a random direction confidently. "Um, follow me I'll explain the details once we get there." Shadow said trying to buy himself some time.

They both took off running shadow leading the way. He had an idea of where to go for his faux mission, the problem was that he couldn't make the mission too simple, that would for sure send red flags to Sonic . Holy hell lying sucks, Shadow mentally noted as he sped past bushes and trees, Sonic trailing close behind. Shadow now had his mind being pulled back to the speed demon who started this mess. Why did I lie to begin with, oh yeah, because I was staring at his house from his yard like a creep. Shadow thought to himself, I'm not a creep, am I? Sure he did not want sonic to think poorly of him and he did not want to deal with the embarrassment of reviling his strange "infatuation" to the other. That would be mortifying, he would rather be eaten alive by a thousand black arms larva. Him? Shadow the hedgehog feel something so foreign for the hero. He is The Ultimate Lifeform yet he can't talk to the blue blur without choking up and resorting to lies. What was so special about him anyway. Shadow looked behind him to see Sonic still blazing a trail. Well he supposed that the hedgehog was strong, and a formidable rival... and he had the most brilliant green eyes, and green was shadow favorite color. Sonic also had I comforting smile the kind that annoyed him at first but then realized that he had seen the same smile in his late friend, Maria... not to mention sonic was one of most kind, understanding, and handsome people he had ever ... no that's wrong.

Shadow wished he could cry but he dare not. He is the ultimate, he is a man... men don't cry and men definitely are not supposed to like other men like that. At least that was what he had always been told. Being made in the fifty's and then bing reawakened in the two thousands was a trip. Rouge has had to explain more than her fair share of strange modern oddities to the dark hero. He has also been put in his place a couple of times by her for some unintentionally sexist comments. He now knows why they where wrong thankfully he won't offend anyone else. Lucky for Shadow his best friend, his only friend, is so understanding. Come to think of it why would he still think that way to begin with, Rouge was one of the most capable and strong people he knew and she was a woman?

Before he could question himself any further he realized he had already reached his destination. "Okay, now mind explaining to me why we are at an abandoned egg base in the middle of the jungle?" Sonic stated flatly as his heels screamed to a halt. They both looked out at the monstrous structure, with vines and foliage trying to reclaim every inch of the facility. The sound of distant feral animals and the rustling of leaves filled the silence. "It is a data retrieval mission, Eggman has left behind valuable files at this location," Shadow refused to look at Sonic as he spoke, "we must find the main computer, see if it is still operational, and retrieve the files." Sonic got in front of shadow forcing the dark male to lock eyes with the blue one. "And why exactly would gun want you to have a partner to explore an abandoned egg base?" Shadow dead panned and simply said "protocol, it is mandatory for at least two gun agents to a mission." "Yes, but why me specifically, and I am not a G.U.N agent." Sonic blurted, as shadow sensed a hint of irritation in the blue ones tone. That was to be expected shadow knew Sonic did not get along to well with G.U.N, but then again neither did he. "Because, sources had reported a large amount of ... unknown energy coming from the nearby jungle and well... they" suddenly Shadow was cut off by sonic much to Shadows relief. " oooh, I get it." "You do?" Shadow questioned. "Yeah, they think something big is going to go down or that it could potentially be a trap." Sonic said with a cocky grin as his eyes shifted back and forth playfully. If shadow had not been so afraid of being caught in his rouse, he might have actually have been amused be the sapphire hero's antics.

Shadow quickly turned to the building and away from the other hedgehog, "ahem, shall we?" As he motioned ahead. This time sonic took the lead, and he was pulling out all the stops, he was checking around corners, staying low, and even pressing his finger to his lips to single to remain quiet. Shadow felt like should feel bad but sonic seemed to be having so much fun, even if it was make believe . The dark hog could not help but form a small smile on his tan muzzle. He was already in this mess might as well join in and play pretend too, even though it was very childish to do so. Something about Sonic seemed to bring they carefree side of him out anyway and Shadow just couldn't wrap his head around it. Shadow stayed low just like his blue companion, and began feeling around the walls. " what are you doing?" Sonic whispered. "Checking for hidden cameras" Shadow stated in a hushed tone as well. Sonic looked surprised for a second then shot a thumbs up and said, " good thinking." Both hedgehogs made there way to another corridor that split off in three directions. While sonic was checking out one of the hallways shadow got an idea. He summoned a weak chaos spear and shot it down the opposite hallway targeting a pile of rubble. The crash caused sonic to jump and duck down. Shadow quickly grabbed a hold of sonic and darted toward a nearby room. Once in the room full of machinery and broken robot parts sonic quickly asked " what was that?" Still in a hushed tone. "Not sure," shadow lied through his teeth as he pretended to look for the assailant out a small window in the metallic door.

" well I'm not going to wait for what ever it is to find us," Sonic said with a strange grin on his face that shadow couldn't quite place as to what it meant. Suddenly Sonic was out the door and heading to the supposed danger when not moments ago he acted as though he did not want to get caught. Shadow stayed in the room and pondered as to what had just happened, but dismissed it soon after. He thought he better chase after Sonic before he(CRASH). A loud disturbance shook the base. Shadow dashed through the door sliding as fast as he could carry himself on his hover shoes. When he reached where the rubble had just been all he saw was a spider shaped robot about the size of Sonics house battered and dirty from being buried in the rubble but ultimately brought back to life most likely do to the energy jump start Shadow had given the hunk of junk earlier. Under the beast lay Sonic struggling with rocks pinning down his left leg.

"Sonic!"


	2. Spilling the Beans

Ch.2 Spilling the Beans

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted " I've fought one of these before, aim underneath"

Shadow understood what sonic meant and dashed forward. He chaos controlled out of the way of the spiders laser that it shot from two guns that were mounted to the side of the beasts head. As soon as he was out of range of fire one of the robots long legs came down hard onto Shadow but was quickly caught by the black hedgehog. He held onto the leg as it pushed him back slowly using all its force to try and move its attacker. Shadow glanced over to Sonic who was obviously hurt but not to bad. Sonics eyes were wide as he stared at Shadow. Suddenly Shadow felt something bubble within his chest. He felt guilt first this was all his fault after all. Then he felt anger, Sonic was needlessly hurt and that made him grit his teeth. Finally something strange and a little selfish, With Sonic staring at him like that he felt... something. Something that made Shadow want to impress Sonic.

Shadow then griped the leg hard and pulled with all his might, making sure to flex his muscles in the process. He effortlessly tore the leg from the fake arachnid and tossed its own appendage at the creature. Shadow then skated under the robot where he spin dashed upward hitting the spider directly in the thorax tunneling into it. He soon surfaced on the other side and jumped down from atop the metal monster. Sparks flew out from the hole Shadow had left behind and with a loud boom the robot fell backwards.

Shadow stood triumphantly overlooking his handy work before remembering Sonic was stuck. Shadow turned to the trapped blue hero and with an apologetic look began removing the heavy rocks from Sonics leg. "That thing popped right out of the ground and caught me off guard " Sonic said with a smile even though he was in pain. Once the rocks had been removed Shadow stared in shock at Sonic's leg. There was blood everywhere and Sonics leg lay cut up with deep gashes. "That was awesome what you did, Shads!" Sonic stated happily. "No it wasn't," Shadow wanted to yell the words that spilt from his mouth, not at Sonic but at himself, "you should not have gotten hurt, this whole situation is my fault." "Shadow, what are you talking about I'm the one who ran head first into a killer robot." Sonic looked at Shadow with comforting eyes and a soft smile. All of Shadow's emotions that he had bottled up for the past six years that he had been on Mobius where suddenly in his throat, how did Sonic have this power over him. He lost his composure in that moment. "No, you don't understand there would not have been a killer robot if I hadn't had used that chaos spear and if I had not made up this whole..." Shadow paused and looked at Sonic who was looking back at the other with a smug smile and half lidded eyes, "you knew..."

"Of course I knew," Sonic said with a slight chuckle," I'm not an idiot and you're a terrible liar, of course I didn't expect all of (that) to happen." Shadow stared at Sonic. He is glad he can not see his own face because he must look utterly idiotic. Sonic was right, of course he knew. Sonic was many things impulsive, impatient, overly excitable, but a fool he was not. At one point he had believed sonic to be a complete idiot but over time found that to be entirely untrue. Sonic was observant in most situations and cunning. He could always see past other people's bull crap and was good enough to make Shadow fall for his. Perhaps he realized this around the time he started to feel...

"Why did you play along?" Shadow asked coldly attempting to rebuild his protective walls. He wanted to chaos control away so badly but without an emerald he wouldn't get to far. "Hey, no need to get defensive," Sonic said ironically in defense, "I just was curious why you felt the need to lie to me. You could have just said, none of your concern Faker, and left it at that. It kind of made me think you had something to hide." Now Shadow really wanted to disappear; would it of been that simple? "So, why'd you do it?" Sonic looked at Shadow with one eye brow cocked. Shadow then realized he had let Sonics leg remain untreated and quietly began to dress Sonic's wounds to the best of his ability using only the material from his gloves. Shadow started tearing his gloves into strips as he said "I'm not sure."

Shadow wrapped Sonics deep wounds first and then continued until he was out of material to work with. Meanwhile Sonic sat on the ground growing impatient with the answer that was given to him, but he knew Shadow would need to take his time to collect himself.

" I suppose I might as well tell you, you would know if I were to lie again anyway." Sonic hummed in agreement. "I- I was embarrassed" sonic snorted in sudden laughter. "Well yeah, I caught you being weird out side of my house, anyone would be." Sonic continued to giggle as he spoke, "WHY were you hang outside my house starring?" Shadows face began to heat up as sonic laughed, not because of the embarrassment, but because sonic looked really different when you actually laughed. Not his usual cocky chuckle, but actual belly laughs. " well... I... um..." "out with it." Sonic said now that his patience had worn thin. "I was going to challenge you to race or something along those lines, just something to get you to come and... be with me. But I decided against it at the last minute."

It was now Sonic's turn to heat up. "You came over to ask me to hang out with you?" Sonic looked stunned. "Why would mister ultimate life form want to spend his time with me?" Shadows face turned to a scowl. "Alright, you can just crawl your way home." Shadow, who was crouching, suddenly twisted his body to get up but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. "Shadow wait, that came out wrong" Sonic pleaded, "I just didn't expect you to even want to be around anyone, I mean from the way you always act. I guess I don't understand why you would want to be around someone who annoys you."

Shadow looked back at Sonic, "well I thought that when we were pretending to sneak around was quite enjoyable." Shadow kept a straight face but was dying inside. Why had he blurted that out?

Sonic know looked to Shadow with a child like glint in his eye, " I thought you were having fun when you started to play along." Sonic turned thoughtful for a moment and something that Shadow couldn't read was written in those emerald green eyes. "You don't have to be weird about asking me to chill with you, I'd be happy to," Shadows eyes went wide with Sonics statement, "I guess it would help if I cut back on making (edge lord) statements though." Know Sonic felt a bit guilty, and Shadow picked up on this. Sonic should not feel guilty, Shadow thought to himself, I certainly act like an ass most of the time. Although, it did hurt when he would try to better himself and immediately be shot down by other people's comments. Suddenly sonic spoke again, "I mean you have saved the world and helped me so many times, I know you're not a bad person. Heck, you're great!" Shadow and Sonic know stare straight into each other's eyes for an awkward amount of time before Sonic turns his head away to hide his face. Was sonic blushing, Shadow thought? "Well are we just going to sit here or are you going to help me get out of this dump." Sonic snapped with a smile. "Oh right" Shadow, then pick sonic up bridal style and was careful not to hurt Sonics leg. "Should I take you to a hospital?" Shadow asked. "No no... just take me to Tails' workshop in Mystic Ruin, he can patch me up and then I'll just walk it off." Sonic spews out confidence even though he currently is being carried like a baby. "As you wish," Shadow said before blasting off in the direction of the fox's residence. Sonic looked up to Shadow but then quickly looked ahead. Sonic kind of liked being "rescued" know he can see why Amy loves this part.

They reached Mystic Ruin in record time, then Sonic began to direct Shadow to the workshop. They could see the massive aircraft hanger in the distance adorned with a symbol depicting twin tails. How did Tails afford all this, Shadow thought? "Isn't your friend like... twelve," He stated flatly. "He actually just had his fourteenth birthday," Sonic corrected. That was right, Tails had been eight when the Ark Battle had happened. It was strange to the dark one to be able to recall information like that having had lost his memory for so long. Only after the battle with the Black Arms had Shadow gained back most of his memories. "That's not much of a difference."Shadow quipped. Actually Shadow was not sure how old any of the members of Sonic's Entourage were. He didn't even know how old Sonic was. "How old are you?" Shadow asked quizzically. "I'll actually be twenty one this month on the twenty third." Sonic looked up to the dark male cradling him in his arms and winked, "Why? Trying to see if I'm legal." Shadow almost dropped Sonic, he was not expecting something so crude to come out of the family friendly hero's mouth. He almost thought he was talking to Rouge in that moment. "Don't be daft." Shadow said with a huff. Sonic put his hands out in mock defense, "okay, okay it was just a joke." Shadow rolled his eyes at the blue hedgehog but was pushing back the blush that was threatening to crawl back onto his face.

They sped into the open garage doors of the workshop and found a deep yellow fox sitting at a workbench tinkering away as some new invention of his.


	3. What are Friends For

Ch. 3 What are Friends For

Tails continued to work, none the wiser to the two hedgehogs that had just entered his workshop. He was blasting music from a radio that sat next to the two tailed fox on the table, and didn't hear Shadow walk up behind him. Only when the dark hog was right behind Tails did the fox hear sonic, who was still in Shadows arms, say his name. Tails turned around expecting to see his best friend standing above him but all he saw was piercing red eyes that stared through the boy genius's soul. Tails jumps with a yell and fell off his chair, the music from the radio still blaring. Shadow looked at the fox with confusion while sonic bust out laughing. "Come on Tails Shadow isn't that scary." Sonic said between giggles, "Are you okay buddy?" Tails lifted his head from behind his chair with a sheepish grin. "Yeah I- I'm okay… but I think I should be asking you that question. What happened?" Tails said gesturing to the two hedgehogs before him as he shut off the radio. "Well…," Sonic looked to Shadow and saw the distress in the crimson irises, "I was accompanying Shadow on a mission but obviously I ran into some trouble. Oh, he was good, Shadow thought to himself.

"I'll say," said the fox, "you're pretty scraped up, anything broken?" "Nah, just my pride." Sonic said as he pretended to sob out the words. Shadow took this opportunity to sit Sonic down in a near by chair. "Well I'll go get the first aid kit then, be right back." Tails stated as he ran through a nearby door. "I suppose I should be going." Shadow said as soon as the young inventor was out of ear shot. "Okay but hey, don't forget what I said," Sonic's face looked slightly stern for a brief moment, "actually, let me give you my cell number, so when you want to hang you can just shoot me a text instead of stalking my house." Sonic winked and leaned over to the table next to him and began to write his digits down on a note pad. Sonic tore off the paper and handed it the Shadow. The dark hedgehog was hesitant to take the paper, "Well, it's not going to bite ya." Sonic gave a soft smile. Shadow grabbed the paper from the blue hero's hand and nodded. As soon as the transaction was made Shadow was gone out the door the way they had come in.

Sonic looked out the garage door that Shadow had just sped through watching the other hedgehog in the distance. "Remind me to pick up more disinfectant later," Tails said reentering the room and looking around, "did Shadow leave?" "Yeah." Sonic said still looking out at the scenery. "Oh no… I know that look." Tails said pulling up a stool to work on Sonic's leg, "What's on your mind?" Sonic looked to his friend and gave a smirk, "I don't know what you mean." The fox wiped his tails back and forth in irritation and gave his patient a dead pan stare. "Sonic you can try to convince yourself all you want, but you won't fool me." The yellow fox continued to dress sonics wounds, removing the makeshift shreds of fabric that had previously been placed there. "Did Shadow do something?" Tails questioned as he applied disinfectant to a cotton ball. "No…well yeah, I don't know," Sonic fidgeted in his seat, "He told me he wanted to hang out with me." Tails' eye shot up to meet Sonic's in a look of surprise, but quickly turned back to his work. "Isn't that a good thing, I thought you thought he was cute." Sonic's face turned bright red. "N-no, I said he was kind of handsome, KIND OF!" the frustration on Sonic's face made the younger one chuckle to himself. "I should have never told you about being gay." Sonic said with a huff. "Well you did now you have to live with the consequences." Tails retorted, "So start talking."

Sonic thought back to the day he had confessed to Tails. The young boy had casually asked Sonic why he had absolutely no interest in Amy Rose, but soon the boy genius had got to thinking, Sonic didn't seem to be interested in any girls for that matter. After being questioned so many times Sonic had eventually given in. Sonic explained to his young Friend that he was simply not attracted to females and as expected the Fox took it quite well, he was like his brother after all. It wasn't Tails that sonic was worried about anyway, it was… the rest of the world. Sonic knew being gay was okay but not everyone saw things the same way. Imagine if Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius, came out as gay, there would be an up roar. Buildings would fall, the government crumble, all because people can't mind their own damn business. He could hear the press now, "Sonic, are you just coming out as gay for publicity among the LBGT community," "Sonic, are you the male or female in the relationship." "Sonic, how do you feel having let down so many of your male fans who aspired to be like you." Nope, he didn't want to deal with that. Tails had brought up a good point though, if he at least told Amy maybe she would lay off him. He didn't necessarily lead the young girl on but he didn't say anything to her either. He found himself feeling guilty and he knew Amy meant well, but he didn't know if he could trust her enough to keep such a delicate secret.

"Hello, Mobius to Sonic." Sonic looked to Tails who was waving a hand in front of the hero's face, "are you going to tell me?" "Honestly there's not much to tell," Sonic decided to keep the fake mission incident to himself to save Shadow some future embarrassment, "I just told him I would be happy to hang with him, and gave him my number, Ouch." Tails had apparently hit a bad spot with the disinfectant. "Sorry. Do you think he'll call?" the fox asked. "I don't know." Sonic said thoughtfully. "Do you want him to call?" the blue Mobian turned to the boy with a look of embarrassment on his face, "Maybe."

Meanwhile in Central City

Shadow arrived at Club Rouge speeding through the front doors. He stopped once he spotted the owner of the Club. The voluptuous white bat sat at the bar with her back turned to the dark hog, he didn't want to alert her to his presence, he was already emotionally drained from the day's events and did not feel up to conversing with anyone else. All he had to do was make it to the pent house elevator and he was home free. "So where have you been?" a sultry voice called out to the man attempting to hide in the shadows. Well so much for that, Shadow thought. "It's classified," Shadow said attempting to drop the inevitable conversation. "Bad day huh, want to talk about it?" the bat took a sip from her glass and set it back down on the bar all while not looking at the male. "Not particularly," Rouge finally made eye contact with the dark hero, her eyes half lidded with an Icey stare, "but I suppose you will not leave me be until I do." Rouge turned back to her drink, "You know me so well." The winged female motioned for the other to take a seat, "Tell me all about it."

Shadow gave a heavy sigh and sat down at the bar with his friend. He watched her pour more liquid into her lipstick stained glass. "Isn't it a little early to be drinking?" Shadow stated. The bat simply gave a shrug and continued to down her beverage of choice. With that, Shadow thought what the hell, and grabbed a glass and poured his own drink. "Well?" the female glanced at here bar companion. "I embarrassed myself in front of Sonic." Shadow downed his drink in one go and quickly poured another. Being the ultimate life form, a genetically modified creation, alcohol did not affect Shadow the same way it did others. He was designed to be immune to all kinds of poisons, it would take an entire keg to get him drunk, not to say he hadn't done it before. "And what was big blue doing out and about," Rough said with a smirk. "I sought him out, that's what was so embarrassing." Rouge stopped drinking and looked at Shadow with eyes the size of saucers.

Once Shadow had explained the day's previous events he waited for Rouge's response. The fem fetal swung her legs around crossing them, then said, "Why did you want to be with Sonic exactly?" "I don't know." Shadow answered embarrassed. Rough was suddenly on cloud nine, it could have just been the alcohol, but she couldn't help but to eating up this conversation. "Well Hun, it sounds to me like you like him." She gave Shadow a mischievous wink. Shadow's face was on fire, "Absolutely not, we are men, I could never… I'm not supposed to… that's disgusting." Shadow looked at Rouge who did not seem to be happy with that response, "I mean it is perfectly fine for other people… but not for me, if I were to… the professor would be rolling over in his grave. Shadows eyes looked away trying to focus on anything else. "The heart wants what the heart wants." Rouge gave a sly look in the direction of the genetic experiment, "You seem to talk a lot about what everyone else would think of you, but what do you really feel." Shadow slowly turned his head back to Rouge, he seemed to be in deep thought. His eyes fell to look at Rouge's generous bust, something he had seen other men fight over on numerous occasions. Then he thought back to how he felt when was fighting the robot from earlier today, and how he wanted to impress Sonic as he stared at him with those beautiful emerald green eyes…

"Oh no…" Shadow almost fell out of his seat, his eyes wide. Rouge almost fell as well in laughter. "Rouge stop this is absolutely ridiculous," Shadow spit venom at the bat, "Sonic is not even gay." Rouge tried to calm her laughing fit, "How do you know?" "He doesn't act gay." Shadow stated like it was the soundest logic in the world. Rouge's face fell, "Oh really and how exactly do you "act gay" Shadow." "Well you act feminine and…" Shadow now caught on to his friend's annoyance, "Am I… stereo typing again?" Rouge smiled a warm smile and gave a nod. One thing she always liked about Shadow was even though he made mistakes he was always willing to learn and better himself. ", so what are you going to do now?" she asked closing her eyes. "Oh, I forgot to mention, Sonic gave me this." Shadow reached into his quills and pulled out the note paper sonic had handed him earlier. "What is it?" the intoxicated bat said opening one eye. "His phone number." Shadow answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "WHAT!!! Text him!" Shadow looked confused at his friend's outburst, "But I don't own a phone all I have is my G.U.N communicator." Rouge suddenly spread her wings and shot out of her seat, "Come on, we are getting you a cell phone." Shadow didn't have time to argue before the overly excited bat was out the door.

About five minutes later they were both at the store waiting to be helped. "Rouge, I don't need a phone." Shadow continued to argue with his headstrong friend, when suddenly a grey ferret sporting large square framed glasses strode up to the pair. The pep in the young mans step pissed Shadow off even more than he already was. "Hello my name is Garret, what can I help you with today." Shadow smirked to himself amused. Garret the Ferret. Someone must have hated their kid, Shadow thought. "Hello I'm looking to get a new phone for my friend here." Rouge said waving away Shadows grumpy demeanor. "Oh um… a smart phone?" Garret asked, now nervous due to the black hedgehog's gaze. "I'll be fine with one of those cheap um… flippy phones over there." Shadow pointed to a small display that an elderly lion was currently looking over. Rouge butt in before Shadow could continue, "Absolutely not, only the best for my friend after all." Garret now looked at the couple confused, "W-well I could offer you the newest Android we have a deal right now where," "Nope, I'll pass." Shadow said cutting the boy off mid-sentence. "Umm, got anything else Hun." Rouge said with a smile.

Garret stood behind a desk ringing up Shadows new iPhone, "The new iPhone has an easy at home set up function, it's very simple, all you do is start up your phone, answer a few questions, then make sure your within Wi-Fi range, then you create yourself an apple account, then. Shadow cut the kid off yet again, "I know absolutely nothing about smart phones." "Just… give him the grandpa treatment." Rouge said with an apologetic look. "O-oh Okay, and w-would you like to buy a case with us today?" Rouge patted Shadow's shoulder, "Might as well, Chaos knows you'll need it." Garret directed the hedgehog to the wall to his left. The wall was covered head to toe in cases of all colors and designs. "Black should be fi…" Shadow stopped speaking when his ruby eyes locked on to a particular case. The case in question was bright emerald green at the top and got darker as it faded to grey at the bottom. The dark hog picked the case up off the wall and nonchalantly placed it down on the desk beside the ferret.

Now back home, Shadow could finally rest. He made his way up to his loft above Rouges pent house suit. It was small and minimalistic, but he loved it. It was the first place he got to call home on this planet. What he lacked in furniture he made up in plants. Almost every inch of the white painted flat area apart from the small kitchen and even smaller bathroom was covered in some species of flora. He enjoyed having something to take care of, to protect, and having a little piece of nature with him was just a bonus. Shadow sat on his futon bed and gazed at his new device. Something Rouge had said earlier stuck out in his mind. (Well you will never know if he likes you back or not if you don't try.) The dark hog pulled out the note with Sonic's number on it and began to punch in the contact. With that done Shadow stared at the message icon like it had the ability to kill him. Reluctantly he pressed the app.

Back at Mystic Ruin

Faun paws shook as a blue hedgehog sat on his best friend's guest bed in white pajamas. Tails had insisted that Sonic stay with him until he knew for sure that his leg would be alright. In Sonic's hand he held his phone like it was a life line, eyes wide rereading a message for the tenth time.

\- Hello, this is Shadow. I am messaging you to ask if you would like to accompany me on the thirteenth to aid in finding a Chaos Emerald. I should not have any duties with G.U.N that day, please reply if you are free as well.

"Tails… TAILS!!! HE TEXTED ME!!!" Sonic shouted as he tripped over himself getting out of the bed, and hobbled to the door trying not to let his injured leg touch the ground.


	4. Not a Date

Ch. 4 NOT a Date

Sonic ran from room to room trying retrace his steps to remember what he was forgetting. He reached the kitchen and read the clock on the stove, ( 8:49 ) he had thirty one minutes to finish getting ready and meet Shadow at Hill Top Zone. This would have been no problem for the blue speed demon if not for the fact that Sonic was currently having a crisis. The hero stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom and checked his quills for imperfections, then breathed into his hand and sniffed his palm. No, the hedgehog was the picture of perfection. Then why did he feel like something was missing? "Shoes, check. Gloves, check. Phone, check. Medicine…" Did he take his medicine? That is something I will certainly need if I go with Shadow, I don't want to drive him up the wall today or end up feeling sick later, Sonic thought to himself. Just because you're an adult doesn't mean ADHD goes away; you just find better ways of dealing with it. "No, I took it this morning with my bagel." The blue hero assured himself. Suddenly it hit him, the Chaos Tracker, he forgot that he left it at Tails'. He wasn't sure if he was going to need it, but he didn't want to look like an idiot if he did and did not have it. The clock now read ( 8:58 ), he should have enough time to swing by the workshop and grab it. With that, Sonic was out the door locking it behind him.

Sonic ran straight to Mystic Ruin and let himself inside the boy genius' home. "Hey Tails, it's me," Sonic yelled out into the open living room, "Do you know where the Chaos Tracker is?" "Oh, I'll get it, hold on." a voice rang out from another room. Sonic waited for his fox friend tapping his foot impatiently. The blue hero must have looked nervous because upon Tail's arrival the fox said, "Are you worried about your date?" Sonic turned red and crossed his arms, "I already told you, it's not a date! Shadow just needs help finding a Chaos emerald. "Sonic you know as well as I do that Shadow doesn't need help finding an emerald, he is like… naturally in tune with Chaos, he could find one on his own." Tails said flashing Sonic a smug grin. "Okay, well he just wants company is that so wrong, is he not allowed to get lonely sometimes?" Sonic snapped, "and just because you hang out with someone doesn't make it a date." "Alright don't get defensive on me." Tails chuckled. "Besides I can't imagine Shadow even being in a relationship, let alone with someone like me…" Sonic suddenly remembered he was on a time crunch. The sapphire hog checked the time on his phone. ( 9:10 ) Sonic only had ten minutes to meet his stripped friend. "Oh hey, Tails I got to go." The yellow fox handed his brother the small hand held devise, "Okay, have fun, good luck." "Yeah, yeah." Sonic said rolling his eyes. The hero dashed out the door only to reappear a second later, "How do I look?" "You look fine Sonic now go before you're late." Tails stated harshly. "Me, late, never." With that the blue speedster was blasting into the horizon.

Standing upon a hill overlooking the scenery laid out before him, a black and red hedgehog waited patently for his new found… companion to show up. Shadow gazed over the cliff side taking in the tranquility of Hill Top Zone. It was not the most beautiful place Shadow had ever been in his opinion, but it had its charm. The rolling hills turned into cliffs, plateaus, and mountain peaks that seemed to shoot up out from a frothy sea of clouds that blanketed the valley below. Tall pine trees lay spread out among the area, and the day sky was a deep blue. The same color as that hedgehog that should be here by now, Shadow thought. He took out his phone and checked the time fumbling with the touch screen. ( 9:19 ) Where the hell was he? What if he decided not to come? What if it had all been a practical joke? As if on que, Sonic skid to a halt next to the currently over thinking male. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief to himself and then turned to face Sonic. "Woo, just made it," Sonic said with a smile, "Sorry, I got held up at the house." "No need to apologize, you were not late." Shadow said calmly. "Right… umm… So where do you want to start?" the cerulean Mobian said looking around. It had been a while since he had been in this neck of the woods, Sonic thought. "I sensed some energy coming from somewhere down there." Shadow pointed down the edge of the cliff to the clouds below. "Down in the mist?" Sonic asked following Shadows finger with his eyes. "What? You scared?" Shadow said with a hint of playfulness in his smooth voice. Sonic turned to the Raven colored hero, having caught the lighthearted tone to the other's statement. Slowly a smile grew on Sonic's face that reached across his entire muzzle. This made Shadow slightly blush. "In your dreams, Faker."

Sonic jumped off the edge of the cliff without warning, and with absolutely no regard to what could be hiding below. Shadow fallowed suit but soon found himself in a pure white limbo. The fog at the bottom of the valley was so thick he could not see his hand in front of his face and doubted Sonic could see much better. "Sonic, are you all right?" Shadow called out. "Yeah." A familiar voice rang out from not too far away, "I'll just use my Chaos Tracker to find my way, Ow!" "What happened?" Shadow said with concern. "I'm fine, I just hit my shin on a rock." "Oh. Well please be careful." Sonic was glad the other hedgehog could not see his face right now; it must have been redder than Knuckles' fur. Shadow could no longer hear Sonic's footsteps and guessed that they had split off in opposite directions. This is not what I wanted, Shadow thought. The point of this was to get close to Sonic, spend time with him, see if I really do have feelings for him, not to be separated within the first few minutes of meeting up. Shadow's internal monologue was suddenly interrupted by a strange spike in energy. That the dark hog recognized it as a chaos emerald. The jet-black sleuth continued to fallow the signal as if in a trance.

Back with Sonic, the blue hero's radar was beeping every second but didn't pick up on a signal. Sonic sighed, he wondered how far away Shadow was in all this haze. "I hope Shadow is doing better than I am with finding this emerald." Sonic said to himself. Of course he is, he's Shadow, he could probably find this emerald in his sleep… does Shadow even sleep? Sonic thought. I'll have to ask him latter, no I won't, that would be rude. After about twenty minutes of searching Sonic started to feel the air get hot. He moved closer to the source of the climate change as the mist started to separate due to the heat, clearing his vision that was now being over taken by red. It was a lava pit. Oh yeah, I forgot about those, Sonic thought. He had decided to make a sharp left when something caught his eye. With the mist cleared in this area Sonic could now see he was being fallowed, by a tiny flying robot that almost looked like a bug. Sonic immediately suspected Eggman until he snatched the machine out of the air and took a closer look at it. G.U.N, No doubt about it. Sonic crushed the tiny bot in his hand and saw that inside was a camera. "What the…" I wonder if Shadow knew about this thing Sonic pondered as he turned to the mist once more.

Shadow was currently hot on the trail of an emerald; the problem was it seemed to be moving. The shadowy detective felt like he was getting close. He stopped in his tracks as he walked right up on a small brown squirrel hiding in the mist. Sonic had called these things critters, but they weren't feral and they weren't quite like Mobians either. The animal had its back turned to the hedgehog and was looking over its new find, the red Chaos emerald. The emerald was glowing a brilliant light, cutting through the fog like a light house. "Ahem." Shadow made his presence known. The creature looked up with wide eyes. Upon seeing the menacing looking monster above it, the critter scurried away chattering in fear and forgetting all about the magnificent gem. Well that was easy, Shadow thought. Now if only I had Sonic senses, much like a certain pink hedgehog he knew. "Sonic…" the dark figure in the mist shouted but received no answer. "Well great…" Shadow was becoming irritated; Sonic could be miles away. He hadn't been able to be with the other this whole time and the day was looking like a bust. Shadow was visibly mad now, "SONIC!" "Marco!" Shadow immediately ceased his scowl, his expression surprised. For once Shadow was not confused by the blue hogs' games, he knew exactly what this was. Shadow's mind flashed back in time to a small blond-haired child running down a hallway attempting to turn off all the lights in the general vicinity. She would say "Come find me Shadow!" in a small sweet voice. Then the little girl would hide in the dark and wait for her unlikely friend to fallow after her. "Marco!" she would call out blissfully unaware that the creature she was attempting to play with had night vision.

Back in the present, all of Shadow's previous anger had melted away replaced by small smile resting on his muzzle. "Polo!" he called out. There was a pause between Sonic's expected response but suddenly, "MARCO!" rang out from the white void. This time more enthusiastic than before. "POLO!" Shadow said heading toward the voice. "MARCO!" Sonic repeated. Shadow was close to Sonic now; he could sense the hero's Chaos signature. Shadow supposed he would never be able to play a fair game of Marco and Polo, but in this moment, he did not care, he was letting himself have fun. Shadow Smirked and moved away from the hedgehog who was trying to track him down as he yelled, "POLO!" again. "Hey! Did you move away? Sonic asked. "Noo…" Shadow said sarcastically "POLO!". Sonic got closer, "MARCO!" Shadow dodged him "POLO!". "How do you know where I am? Are you cheating!" Sonic yelled sounding like a child who had just been tricked into eating their vegetables. laughter erupted from the void. I've got you now, Sonic thought with a triumphant smile. "gotcha!" He exclaimed as he grabbed onto dark and slender shoulders. Now that they were right next to each other Sonic could see shadows face clearly. What he saw left the energetic hedgehog stunned. Shadow's eyes where soft but squinting. His muzzle was completely taken up by a large open smile that caused the area above his nose to crinkle. He was also presenting his teeth showing off his fang like canines whose threatening nature was offset by the fact that his cheeks looked puffy and red with blush. Sonic was staring into the eyes of an angel. He couldn't wrap his brain around it. How does someone go from looking meaner than a snake, to looking like the sweetest being in the universe? That confirmed it for the hedgehog, there was way more to Shadow than just a "Humph" and an arm fold. Oh, and now Sonic was determined to know everything.

Shadow slowly started to calm his laughter; his smile still plastered on his face. Suddenly Shadow realized Sonic was staring at him. "Ahem, well anyway, I found the Chaos emerald so we should get out of here." Shadow stated as he recomposed himself. "Y-yeah." Sonic said turning his head to blush forgetting his hands where still resting on Shadow's shoulders. Shadow took the Chaos emerald that was still in his hand and raised it up, "CHAOS CONTROL!" Before Sonic's eyes he and Shadow were standing at the top of the cliff once more. "Wha? Oh…" Sonic said dumbly. "I-I've always wanted to ask you why you don't just Chaos control everywhere?" Sonic said trying to distract himself from what had just happened. "Well, I can only Chaos control short distances when I do not have a Chaos emerald in my possession. When I have an emerald, I can Chaos control anywhere as long as I am familiar with the location and its Chaos signature, extremely long distances require more energy however, and can tire me out. I also need an emerald if I am moving other people." Sonic listened to Shadow spout off the information with pride but all Sonic could think about was how smooth and proper Shadow's way of speaking was. Sonic watched Shadows mouth move in longing. Holy heck what has gotten into me, Sonic yelled in his head. "Sonic…" Shadow looked concerned, "are you listening?" "uh…Yeah, Oh! I almost forgot do you know anything about this, it was fallowing me around?" Sonic held out his hand reviling the broken bot from earlier. Shadow looked at the dismantled pieces to the gadget and fear crept onto his stomach, but soon he pushed the feeling down not wanting to alarm Sonic. It was obviously a G.U.N Spy Fly. But what reason would G.U.N have to spy on me with cameras, Shadow thought? The dark hog knew he probably already had a tracker on him, which was an invasion of privacy enough, but now they want to watch him as well. "And don't attempt to lie." Sonic said suddenly snapping the other male out of his trance. Shadow gazed at the cobalt hero who was now looking very stern, as if he where disciplining his kid. "It most likely was meant for me, but got lost in the fog." Shadow went on, "I suppose G.U.N has become suspicious of me, due to traveling to places like… well the abandoned Egg base." Sonic was trying to stay calm but talking about the shoot first ask questions later organization, just grinded his gears. "Well why did you tell them?" Sonic quizzed the stripped hedgehog. "I didn't." Shadow stated aware of the growing anger on his companion's face. "So, they have already been spying on you?!" Sonic spit out. "Most likely, yes" Shadow had never seen Sonic angry before, he honestly didn't know that the happy go lucky speedster was capable of such an emotion. Shadow looked Sonic over. His face was dusted red and his eyes where narrowed, not round like there resting position. His teeth were borne and a snarl was becoming present on his nose. Finally, Shadow noticed his quills, that usually stayed perfectly in place, were now lifted and frayed out. Chaos he is cute, Shadow mentally noted but was then embarrassed with the nature of his intrusive thought. "Why do you allow them to do that?" Sonic didn't mean to blame the victim but if it had been him, he would have kicked some ass a long time ago. "Sonic… I can't go against G.U.N." "And why the hell not, aren't you the ultimate life form!?!" Shadow was surprised yet again, this time with Sonic's word choice. Shadow wanted to laugh but refrained. I should just tell G.U.N not to mess with any of Sonic's friends or they will feel the wrath of the blue demon. "I cannot because I am the ultimate life form" Shadow's eyes became sad, "You forget that I tried to destroy the world at one point and… kill you." Sonic awoke from his anger. The blue hero realized he had never expected to ever have a conversation with Shadow like this. Sonic softened his words, "Yeah but, that was six years ago, you were confused. You also saved the world, TWICE! And now you help me protect this world from Egghead all the time. You are a different person than you were back then." Shadow smiled at Sonic's kind words, even though Shadow didn't see them as entirely true himself. "They still fear me, what I'm capable of." Shadow said sorrowful, "me agreeing to work with G.U.N is the only thing keeping them from…" Shadow paused, not wanting to continue the conversation in fear of getting Sonic involved. "From what?" Sonic asked. "Never mind. I really don't want to talk about it right now." Shadow stiffened, attempting to put up a temporary wall between them. Sonic looked upset but accepted Shadow's answer. I guess I've interrogated him enough for today, Sonic thought feeling concerned for his new friend. "Anyway," Shadow said after a minute of silence, "are you hungry?" Wait, was Shadow offering to go get something to eat with me, Sonic internally screamed. Is this actually more than just finding an emerald? No of course not, but maybe… Sonic continued to ramble in his head until he realized he had yet to give the awaiting hog an answer. "I could eat." Sonic said playing it cool. "Okay then." Shadow smirked and grabbed Sonic's hand. Sonic looked down at his hand and thought that this must be what Amy feels like. "CHAOS!"

"CONTROL!" The pair were suddenly standing in Central City. Bystanders that had witness the spectacle of two hedgehogs suddenly appearing out of nowhere like magic, were gawking and staring. Shadow, still holding Sonic's hand pulled the other away from the crowds prying eyes. Shadow really wished he did not have to live in the city, there was to many people for his liking. He wished he could live somewhere secluded like Sonic. "There is a small café Rouge took me to once around the corner here. Is that suitable for you?" Shadow asked releasing Sonic's hand. "Sure." The pair walked into the hole in the wall café and sat down. Thankfully for Shadow the establishment was not busy. A minute later a thin human waitress with brown hair tied in a bun walked over to there table to take the Mobian's order. She had thin lip and a large nose, that of which rivaled Eggman's. She smacked her gum and gave an uninterested look as she said, "What can I ya?" As soon as the woman noticed who was sitting at the table she flatly said, "We don't do discounts." She directing her statement toward the blue hero. "I… wasn't asking for one." Sonic said calmly, having had dealt with all kinds of situations that spawned from the hedgehog's fame. "Well I'm just telling you, we can't afford for you celebrities to come in here and start demanding stuff." the woman said with distaste. Sonic quickly derailed the conversation, "I'll take a club sandwich and water please." Sonic and the rude waitress both looked to Shadow for his order. "Oh right… I'll have a chicken sandwich and a coffee…please." Shadow said handing the woman his menu. The woman walked off without a word. "Well she sure is pleasant isn't she" Sonic joked. "Quite… She wasn't here when I came with Rouge." Shadow said quietly. "Do you think her nose got like that from sticking it in to many people's business." Shadow snarked. Sonic was trying his best to stifle his laughter; he hadn't expected Shadow to say something so funny. "I apologize, I… should not speak that way." Shadow spoke unsure of himself. "No, no by all means man, go on." Sonic snorted, "You need to talk like that more often, I didn't expect you to have such a good sense of humor." "Oh very well then." Shadow said with blush forming on his face, "To be honest with you… I don't do well in social satiation, I often times am confused on what is appropriate and what is not." Sonic looked stunned; Shadow had managed to surprise him for the third time today. Suddenly the realization dawned on the blue hog, Shadow wasn't Hateful or condescending like many believed, he was just extremely introverted. Sonic smiled at his discovery. Shadow was secretly a huge, kind, anxiety ridden dork.

After they had received their food the two continued to chat until they where finished eating. Sonic and Shadow both argued over the bill and who would pay it. However, Shadow was victorious claiming that he should pay for Sonic's meal because he had invited the hedgehog to eat in the first place. They waved good bye and went their separate ways. Shadow Chaos controlled to his loft. Upon arrival pulled out his phone and saw he had received a text.

Rouge:Hey Hun. I'm out I'll be back later tonight so you better be ready to give me all the hot deets from your date

Shadow rolled his eyes and fell onto his futon, exhausted from the day's events. Why do I have to feel this way for Sonic, Shadow thought in the comfort of his home, why can't everything just be simple. (Bing) Another text rang out from his phone. Expecting it to be Rouge again he opened the message.

Unknown:Hello! This is Tails. I hope you don't mind I got your number off of Sonic's phone. I wanted to invite you to Sonic's 21st birthday on the 23rd, it will be held at my place. It is a surprise party so don't tell Sonic. I hope you can come I know Sonic will be really happy if you showed up.

What does Sonic's friend mean by that, Shadow Thought, and how does everyone make those little pictures in their texts?!?


	5. Happy Birthday, Sonic!

Ch. 5 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SONIC!

"You know better than to ask me that, agent Rouge." Barked a tall human man with silver hair. The man's uniform was decorated with all sorts of shining medals that caught the light from the overhead fluorescents. He was a dominating presence in the small room, even over shadowing the hefty robot that stood off in the corner. "Commander Towers, hear me out." Rouge tried to explain but was shortly cut off by the human. "I can't go around handing out days off to anyone who asks for it." "Sir, with all due respect, Shadow has only received two days off this month." She said the words calmly, but could feel her next statement bubble in her throat, and it was not going to be as pleasant. "And need I remind you that you force him to work nonstop missions for weeks at a time." The military officer straightened his back in defense as he was accused, "Agent Shadow has yet to complain." Rouge was refraining from putting a death grip around the man's neck, "If he could he would, how can someone complain to an organization that doesn't even treat them like a person," Rouge was livid as she flew up to the man's height, " to G.U.N Shadow is the dirt under their shoes and simultaneously the most valuable agent they have." Towers gave Rouge a warning with his piercing blue and yellow eyes, that said she needed to compose herself before she regretted it. The bat sighed as she landed back on the ground, "look I know you don't call the shots when it comes to how Shadow is treated, but can you cut him some slack. He has been making great progress fitting in to society. And it's not like he is going to be able to get up to no good, he will be at Sonic the hedgehog's birthday Chaos sake." The commander looked into the bat's teal colored eyes and shook his head, "He will have reports to file in the morning that day after his assignment in Spangonia but… I may allow agent Shadow the night off… but then it is back to work the next day." Rouge could see something soft in the man's eyes. She knew he was very aware of all the injustice Shadow was dealt on a daily basis, but was powerless to stop it without risking his own position and possible imprisonment. "You are to accompany Shadow to this outing however." The commander said firmly regaining some of his authority. "Trust me sir, I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Rouge made her way down a long hallway with her large mechanical friend trailing not far behind. Sometimes the bat felt like she was the mother of two boys, one being a trigger-happy killing machine with a sense of morality and the other a genetic alien hybrid with a heart of gold. She didn't like the idea of motherhood but she loved her team and would do just about anything for them. Besides if she was a mom, she knew she was a MILF. Rouge made it to the staff break room where a dark hedgehog sat, waiting for her return. He sat with his arms crossed, head slumped forward and eyes closed. "Not falling asleep on me are ya, hun?" Shadow's eyes snapped open and looked at the female. "No, I was just in thought." Rouge gave a devilish grim, "About what? How you're going to flirt it up with the birthday boy at his party." Shadow's eyes were wide, "You did it? He actually is allowing me the time off?" "Sure did hun, but don't get too excited, you only get the night off," Rouge gave an apologetic look, "the commander said, after that it's back to work in the morning." Shadow was now standing attempting to hold back his emotions that where threatening to reveal themselves, "That's fine, I wasn't expecting to even get the chance." Rouge looked at Shadow with an honest look of surprise, "You're really serious about this." The hedgehog before her turned his head to the side in embarrassment, "I've already tried to push away my feelings when it comes to him, it does not work, and at this point I know he at least wants a friendship with me and I can't just… let him down." Shadows met the bats bewildered gaze, "I'm not even entirely sure of what I want… but all I can think of is him." Rouge just smiled, "I think you'll figure yourself out eventually." "I hope your right," Shadow said turning to the floor, "You didn't have too much trouble convincing Towers, did you?" Rouge waved the brooding hog away, "Of course not, easy as pie." Now it was the mechanical man's turn to speak, "MY MEMORY SHOWS THAT ROUGE SHOWED UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR, AND QUOTE, GOT IN COMMANDER TOWERS' FACE." Rouge turned to Omega with her jaw dropped, "Omega! You can't just give away my secrets, I trusted you. "MY APOLOGIES ROUGE, I WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH YOUR CONCEALING OF THE TRUTH IN THE FUTURE." The robot belts out in his monotone voice. "See that you don't."

Shadow can't help but give a light chuckle to his comrades under his breath. The trio walked out into the hallway and continued toward the exit of the building. Rouge noted the neutral expression on her team mates face but knew all too well that it held secrets. The bat eyed Shadow's features and took note of the slight fidgeting he was doing with his hands. "What are you nervous about?" Shadow should have guessed that she had known him for to long to not pick up on his anxieties. "Rouge will… will you be going?" She gives him knowing smirk, "Well, duh. I can't leave you on your own to fend off all those rowdy wiper snappers." Shadow looked back at rouge and gave a small smile, "thank you, Rouge." the bat blinked slowly as she registered what was just said to her, "What has Sonic done to you?!"

A week had passed, and Shadow was returning home from Spangonia. Shadow enjoyed field work but none stop missions where excessive. It was true that the ultimate life form did not require much sleep, food, or water, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't prefer to have those things. Living purely off of Chaos energy was tiring and left the dark hog not in peek condition, which of course Shadow did not like. Soon I will be home in my loft, Shadow thought, I hope rouge remembered to water my plants. He would never tell her but he missed that kleptomaniac she-devil. And right now, Shadow missed his bed as well, but there were still reports to be done and he needed to complete them as fast as possible so he may get some rest in before the party. A week's worth of reports, Shadow thought about what Sonic would say. Probably something like, "No problem, piece of cake" Shadow pondered. Of course, he could not see Sonic of all people write up a report. Shadow imagined the blue hedgehog sitting at a desk with a tacky tie around his neck and spectacles on the end of his nose, mulling over paper work. The striped hog snickered to himself at the thought.

Sonic the hedgehog took his time getting to his friend's house. Today was his birthday and his best friend threw him a surprise party every year, although at this point, would it not be more surprising for the fox to tell Sonic of his plans. He knew as soon as he walked through those doors, he would be greeted by the smiling faces of all his friends that he had made over the years. Well most of them anyway. Even the Chaotix would most likely be there. They were not necessarily considered Sonic's close friends but they meant well. Espio was cool, Charmy was just a kid, and Vector… well Vector was just interested in free food. Sonic finally decided it was time to make his grand entrance and stopped in front of Tails' front door. He nonchalantly pushed the door open and walked inside like he owned the place. The speedster turned on the lights to the pitch-black room, "SURPRISE!!!" an orchestra of voices erupted from the within. The room was set up with red and blue balloons taped to various furniture, and a smorgasbord of snacks and beverages laid out in the kitchen. "You guys…you really got me this year." Sonic said in mock surprise. "That's what you say every year." a yellow fox laughed out from behind his couch. "SONIC!!!" a familiar voice rang out from the crowd, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" before Sonic could register what was happening, he was in the death grip of a small pink hedgehog. "Thank you, Amy." Sonic said catching his breath as the girl released him. "It's about time you showed up, dude." A red echidna said as he approached Sonic to give the hedgehog a fist bump. Sonic accepted the friendly gesture with a grin, "Hey Knuckles. I wanted to give you slow pokes enough time to set everything up." The birthday boy scanned the room and found he was down two members of his usual company. "Where are Charmy and Cream?" "This is your twenty first, man. There is going to be way too much drinking at this party for kids to be here." Knuckles said putting his arm around the hedgehog. "There with Cream's mom, but they told me to wish you happy birthday." Amy Rose smiled at her hero as she explained, "Obviously tails and I can't drink, so we are the designated adults at this party." "That's right," tails said, "We are in charge of making sure no one goes to jail tonight." Sonic laughed along with his friends until Knuckles pulled out a bottle, of a which Sonic could only assume the contents to be of an alcoholic nature, and yelled, "LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!"

Hours later, Rouge, Omega, and Shadow pulled up into the fox's stone drive way and parked the G.U.N issued vehicle. Shadow kept a stony face but was dying inside. Every part of his being did not want to be at this loud party surrounded by even louder people. At least Shadow sort of knew the other party guests and they weren't complete strangers. But open closer inspection that actual might make thing worse on the dark hero. "Come on it won't be that bad." Rouge said trying to reassure her partner, "This is Sonic's party we're talking about. There will probably be pin the tail on the donkey, maybe even a clown." Shadow kept his straight face as he continued to walk forward, "of course there will be a clown." Rouge gave Shadow a confused glance. "That echidna will be here will he not." Shadow said flashing her a fake cocky smile.

Inside the house, Sonic sat at the kitchen bar next to a purple chameleon sipping his drink. They both watched as Amy and Tails attempted to wrangle a very intoxicated echidna, who was trying to dead lift the entire couch with chairs and various other objects staked on top, while an equally drunk crocodile encouraged the behavior. Sonic himself was quite intoxicated as well. That night he had figured out he was a lightweight the hard way. It made sense; Sonic was just a little hedgehog after all. He stared into his glass that held a mysterious concoction that knuckles had brewed up for him. Sonic turned his attention away from the commotion in the living room and directed it to the front door. The drunken hog blinked away the haze in his eyes as he tried to focus on what he was seeing. Finally, he locked eyes with crimson irises, and realized what he was staring at. "Shadow…" Sonic said almost in a whisper still uncertain if what he was seeing was real. Standing in the door way stood a concerned hedgehog, a snickering bat, and an indifferent robot. All three looked back at the male sitting at the bar waiting for some sort of reaction. "SHADOW!" Sonic yelled from across the room as he tried to release himself from his bar stool. None of the other party guests seemed to take notice of the new arrivals; they were too concerned with their own dilemmas. The blue hedgehog almost fell over his own feet as he made his way over to his friend. "Sonic… are you alright?" Shadow asked as he watched the blue ones intoxicated display. "Alright? I'm more than alright. You're here! I didn't know you were coming." The exited male reached out to the other and wrapped his arms around Shadows neck and slumped forward in an awkward hug, "I'm sooooo happy." Rouge gave a sly look to Shadow as she walked into the commotion of the living room, "well I'll let you two catch up. Come on omega." The inebriated hero was still attached to the others neck. Shadow felt self-conscious as he scanned the room for prying eyes but luckily found none. He pulled the protesting leach off of his body, "Sonic. Stop." Sonic looked up at Shadow with glazed eyes and flinched at the harsh tone, "Sorry…". Now he really did act like Amy he thought to himself. "Shadow I… I've just had a lot to drink, and I didn't take my medicine so it wouldn't mix with the alcohol… I'm just really exited." Shadow felt bad that Sonic was apologizing. He really didn't want to push him away but Shadow did not want any more attention at this party then necessary. "Sonic, there is no need to… wait medicine? You take medicine? What's wrong are you sick?" Shadow frantically questioned the hazy eyed hog. "What? No…I take medicine for my ADHD." Sonic lost his balance and staggered back a little. It had never occurred to Shadow that Sonic could be diagnosed with something of the sort, but that made absolute sense to him. The revelation also made Shadow feel more guilt than he was previously. So many times, I have made snide comments regarding Sonic's compulsive and hyperactive behavior, Shadow thought, was I making fun of him for something he couldn't help? Suddenly Shadows arm was linked with Sonic's as he was being lead into the dining area and seated. Sonic walked back to the kitchen and returned with two glasses and a bottle.

Shadow poured himself a drink and raised it to the blue hero, "Happy birthday Sonic." Sonic just giggled and said thank you downing his drink completely oblivious to the toast. Shadow took away Sonic's glass, "I think you've had enough for the time being." Sonic blinked at the glass thief, "Wait… What I do?" Shadow disregarded his glass as well and grabbed the neck of the bottle that sat upon the table in between the two. Shadow was going to need at least something to get him through the night. He pressed the booze to his lips and threw his head back, chugging the rest of the bottle's contents with ease. Sonic stared in wonder, "Whoa… Shads you really are the ultimate life form." Sonic said in a completely serious tone. Shadow barked out a laugh, "If that is what warrants being the ultimate life form, then some of Rouge's ex boyfriends might be fit for the role." Sonic was practically on the floor holding his stomach, laughing at Shadows words and his own drunken stupidity. (Crash!) A loud noise came from the kitchen next to them. Both hedgehogs looked up to see everyone was now filling up on more alcohol, and a glass had been mashed on the floor by knuckles who was red in the face glaring daggers at a mischievous bat. Amy was on the floor attempting to clean the mess before anyone stepped on it, and tails had his head laid down on the bar wishing he could drink at the moment. Out of nowhere the volume to the music was cranked up to an obnoxious level by none other than Vector the crocodile. Shadow was beginning to feel uncomfortable and was going to say something when Sonic turned to him with his hands covering his ears. "let's go outside." Shadow said covering the blue Mobian's ears for him and leading the distressed hero out the door.

As soon as they both where outside the party Shadow released Sonic's head and sat him down on the front steps. "Have they been like that all night?" Shadow asked feeling a tinge of anger toward the green reptile. This was Sonic's celebration and sonic couldn't even enjoy it without someone taking advantage of his kindness. "Yeah, pretty much… I don't think I like drinking." Sonic said with a small sheepish smile. Shadow gave Sonic a soft grin in return and held onto a fawn shoulder to stop the other from swaying. However, Sonic did not see the gesture in that light. He turned his head which was now a blaze with blush, and made small glances back at Shadow. In his intoxicated state Sonic drank Shadow in. He was slightly taller than Sonic, and his quills where always well kept. He was overall thicker than Sonic as well, muscle wise. The most predominant place one could see the difference was in Shadow's arms. When compared, Sonic's arms were like noodles. The blue hog thought back to the day he watched Shadow rip off a giant robot's leg with his bare hands like it was made of paper. Sonic shivered in excitement. Shadow also had that ivory chest fur that Sonic so desperately wanted to lay his head on, and eyes that could pierce his soul. "So, what have you been doing since our last encounter?" Shadow said popping Sonic's dream bubble. "I should be asking you that question, you're the one that fell off the face of the planet." Sonic answered back. "I apologize, I was sent on a week-long assignment to Spangonia." Sonic's eyes lit up upon hearing that, "Spangonia! Did you visit the university there? Tails knows one of the professors there and my friend Chip really likes their tea." Shadow disregarded the birthday boy's overly zealous outburst, "Well I wasn't exactly sent there on a leisure trip." "Oh… I guess there is no point to asking what your assignment was, confidential G.U.N stuff and all that." Shadow was a little proud that Sonic understood the situation. "Wait! A week long!? Did you just get back?" Sonic said unintentionally raising his voice. "Yes, I arrived at base this morning and filed my reports." Shadow stated with matter of fact to his voice. "And now you're here?!" Sonic exclaimed raising his hands in the air. "Yes… and I'll have to report in tomorrow as well. I was able to take a nap though so do not be concerned for my sake, besides I wanted to see you." Shadow was mentally cursing himself, why had he said that last part? Sonic must had missed the slip however because he was now starting off on a tangent, "What the hell. They can't do that to you. How often does this happen? I can talk to them! You should just quit!" Shadow chuckled and gave Sonic a soft smile and looked deep into the angry hogs' eyes. "Its fine, Sonic. I'm just glad Rouge was able to pull some strings so I could be here with you." The soft hushed tone of Shadows voice reached Sonic's ears calming him instantly. The cerulean Mobian swayed back and forth but was caught by the dark hero yet again. Sonic stared into Shadow's ruby eyes and then down to his lips. "Sonic, are you…" and that's all that Shadow could say before fawn lips had pressed against tan. Shadow's eyes flew open wide and he could feel his quills begin to raise. He was positive that his face had to be the color of a tomato at this point. The blue hedgehog was still kissing him; his eyes closed and leaning forward. Shadow's breath hitched when he felt Sonic lean a little too much and press against his body. Suddenly Shadow grabbed onto Sonic's shoulders and pulled him away; lips separating with a pop.

Sonic's eyes opened and the mortification of what he had just done set in, "Oh my Gods… oh my Gods… what did I..." "Sonic…" Shadow said dumbfounded not sure of how to respond, he had not been prepared for this situation. The panicking hedgehog began to sober up due to his actions, "I am so sorry, Shadow. I don't know why I… please don't be mad. Please still be my friend. You can hit me to make it better." Sonic closed his eyes and braced himself. "What?! Sonic I'm not going to hit you." Shadow said, feeling guilt that Sonic would think that to be his reaction. "Oh," the offending male said with blush spreading to all corners of his body, "Just let me at least explain." Shadow raised a brow at Sonic's words, well this should be good, he thought to himself. "I… I'm gay, you and Tails are the only two people in the world that know and I'd really like to keep it like that please," Sonic's eyes pleaded with Shadow's, "I really like having this… what ever this is between you and I, and I don't want my sexuality to… scare you away. That was a drunk, one-time thing I swear." Shadow took in Sonic's words and remained silent for longer than the blue hero could bare. "I suppose this makes thing simpler for me then." Shadow looked at the ground in thought. "W-what do you mean." Sonic said in desperation. He felt like it was all over, he had fucked up, and him and Shadow were starting over from square one. "Well I was trying to figure out if you liked me in that way so I could ask you on a date." There was a long silence between the two that seemed to last hours but was only a few seconds. "A date?" sonic repeated like he had never heard the word before. "yes, is it not a common practice to take someone you…like… on a date to further the relationship. That is what Rouge informed me." Shadow looked away in uncertainty. "yes! I mean no! I mean, no its not uncommon, and yes… id like to…go on a date." Sonic tried to process the words that fell from his mouth but was stunned by the whole situation. Shadow stared at sonic in amazement. Slowly a large smile crept onto shadows face and sonic almost had a heart attack. The dark male quickly recomposed himself, "Ahem well, I will message you the details at a later date." "yeah…" sonic muttered trying to recollect himself as well.

Suddenly the front door burst open and the lights and loud music assaulted their senses. In the door way a winged figure cast a shadow over the two hedgehogs. "what are you two doing out here, the party is inside." Rouge swished her drink around in her cup waiting for a response. "Just taking a break," the blue hero said without skipping a beat, "we were just about to head inside." Shadow stood up but did not go toward the door, "actually if its all the same to you, id like to head home. I have to be at work in the morning and…" sonic held up his hand, "no, that's fine. I understand. Rest up dude." Shadow waved good bye. "Rouge, have omega drive you back home once you are done here." Shadow said sternly but softened when he turned back to sonic, "And I am glad I was able to see you for your birthday, Sonic." With that Shadow was gone in a flash of light. Rouge took a sip of her drink, "Did you scare him off big blue?" sonic got up and walked to the door were the bat was standing, "Shadow doesn't do to well with crowds does he…" "Honey, that's an understatement. Actually, the only reason he even bothered getting the time off was because of you." If Sonic and Shadow did not already have a date, Sonic might of thought the bat had said to much in her drunken state. "that's cool, I'm not one for people all the time either, that's why I decided to live on my own when I felt like Tails could take care of himself." Rouge raised a brow at the new information, and a thought occurred to her, she really didn't know all that much about the hero of modius; no one did.

Shadow:

I am messaging you regarding our "meeting" I am free on the 28th. If this is suitable for you, I would like to pick you up at 1800 hours.

Sonic:

Sure! And you know that you don't have to be so formal right. It's a text not a letter to the president. Lol

Shadow:

My apologies.

Sonic:

Lol its cool dude. But aren't you supposed to be sleeping for work in the morning?

Shadow:

Are you not supposed to be drunk?

Sonic:

Oh, we are mister sass hog now. For your info certain "events" caused me to sober up and I couldn't bring by self to drink anymore. That's wright you ruined my party. :'(

Sonic:

That last text was a joke. Please don't actually think you ruined my party.

Shadow:

I was not concerned after all you caused those events in the first place.

Shadow:

Not that you should feel bad about it. It was an accident.

Sonic:

I know what you mean. I'm going to head to bed now. Night.

Shadow:

Good night, Pleasant dreams.

Sonic smiled as he read the last text. He was yet again in tails' guest room. most of the guest from the party had returned to there homes, and the ones who were left were crashing on the couch. "hey Tails!" Sonic shouted from his room, "what's eighteen hundred hours mean in military time?" "Six PM!" a voice rang out from down the hall. Sonic looked at his texts once more, "Okay, just making sure." Sonic knew he was not going to get any sleep that night. A smile spread across his face as he buried it into a pillow. Under all the giddy feelings and tightness in his chest, Sonic knew deep down that Shadow's date had just opened a can of worms for the blue hero.


	6. Cake, Love Songs, and Road Races

Ch. 6 Cake, Love Songs, and Road Races

Shadow stood in front of his mirror in his tiny compact bathroom. The hedgehog took in every inch of himself starting with his quills and ending with his chest fur. He thought back to the party he had attended about a week ago and the events that had transpired. Shadow carefully touched his index finger to his bottom lip and let the memories of Sonic fill his head. He recalled how sloppy it was; Sonic had almost missed in his drunken state. Despite that, the kiss was unlike anything Shadow had ever felt. It was soft, warm, and inviting; it caused his chest to feel like it was tightening but not to the point of suffocation. The only kisses he had ever received where from Maria and those were only placed on his forehead in a platonic sibling kind of way. This had been different; the kiss Sonic had given him was deeper; it meant something else. Shadow couldn't find the words, maybe attraction was appropriate, he thought to himself. Shadow glanced back at his reflection. He knew Sonic was homosexual now, but did this mean the blue hero thought he was attractive? Shadow had only had humans to base everything off of for the majority of his impressionable years. He had never thought about what makes someone beautiful in a physical way. He had only known beauty that you could see within someone's soul, this he had learned from Maria, and he was certain he did not have that.

When Shadow thought about it, what exactly did he like about Sonic himself? He supposed it was his soul as well, not the same as his departed friend but similar in many ways. They both loved life and this strange yet captivating planet. They both wanted freedom and the best for everyone, even though they didn't know the people they desired to help. They both were naturally selfless and would give their lives to… Shadow stopped himself, wishing to distracting his mind from the thought. He also appreciated Sonic's own attributes, such as his competitive nature that could rival Shadow's own. But did he find him Attractive physically? Well he did know he liked Sonic's emerald eyes, and his soft plump cheeks that dimpled slightly when he smiled. He also had a cute and twitchy noes, and even his ears were adorable and rounded much like the rest of Sonic's features. Also, since the kiss, Shadow had not been able to get Sonic' lips out of his mind. Okay, Shadow thought, he has a nice face in general. Other than that Sonic was very fit, not muscular but toned. A nice runner's body. He of course had powerful legs and slender shoulders. Shadow also liked Sonic's torso that curved more than his own and trailed down to his cute, perky… tail. Shadow blushed at his own perverse mind. Perhaps he should ask Rouge more questions about things of that nature. Shadow began to become nervous regarding his date that began in four hours, well more so than before. He realized he was completely clueless on how a relationship worked, the only training he had received on the matter had come from the few broadcast and movies he had watched in the fifties during his time on the ark and whatever crap Rouge had forced him to view on modern television. Shadow recalled Rouge's words of encouragement from earlier that morning at work, (you will do fine, just do what you think is right.) The feeling of butterflies swarming around in his stomach made him want to smile and vomit at the same time.

Up until that night Shadow and Sonic had locked lips, the striped hog had never understood the appeal of love songs. He felt like there were to many in the world and they were all too cheesy for his tastes, especially the pop songs of today. So, he found it surprising when Rouge was blasting music from her car radio on their way home one night, a particular love song caught his attention and instead of immediately changing the station he just let it play. He took in all the sickly-sweet lyrics and oddly found them sort of sad in a strange bittersweet kind of way. Is that what love feels like, Shadow pondered over analyzing everything like he always did. Shadow pulled himself out of his own head and found he was still staring at himself in the mirror. He peeked over at the clock on the wall and took a deep breath. He decided he should at least attempt to get some rest before his date, he found it difficult though given the winged insects metaphorically disrupting his insides.

Just outside Green Hill, nestled out of sight from the public eye, sat Sonic the hedgehog's cottage, concealed by tropical foliage and greenery. The beach was at Sonic's door step and even though Sonic didn't like water, he loved the beach and its hot weather. The area he had chosen for his humble home was very stagnant when it came to weather anyway. He rarely got bad rain or tropical storms hitting his house, but when bad weather was expected, he would simply crash at Tail's place. That is if Sonic was even home. Sometimes he would set out with nothing but his sneakers and his gloves, not knowing where he was going or when he would return. It was simple, free, the way he liked it. However, what he didn't like was feeling like his heart was going to stop at any given moment like it had been for the past week. The Cerulean hero had even debated making a run for it, leaving everything behind and going on a year long adventure. No, he couldn't do that, he didn't want to do that. Sonic wouldn't hurt Shadow in that way. He trusted him, and that's more than he could say for everyone else in the brooding hog's life. Besides, Sonic wanted this too, but did it have to be so hard. Not only was he having to deal with the emotional ride that was a crush, but also the headache of having to keep it hidden. Now three people knew his dirty little secret, Tails, Shadow, and he was pretty sure Rouge was aware. I can't really blame him for that, Sonic thought, that's his best friend, he deserves to have someone to talk to. Rouge was cool after all, she might try to blackmail him with the information, but she was the last person Sonic thought would out him.

Sonic checked the time on his phone (5:48); the hedgehog bounced his foot in nervous inpatients. He wanted the date to start already, rip it off like a band aid so there is no turning back or second thoughts. He didn't think he could be more nervous than the first-time Shadow had ask for his help finding the emerald, but this was an actual date… with Shadow the Hedgehog!!! Sonic allowed the thought to sink in and stew in his mind before his train of thought abruptly slammed on the breaks at the sound of an approaching engine. Was that him, Sonic screamed in his head? It had to be. Sonic looked out the window to see Shadow parked outside his house sitting atop his black chrome motorcycle. Oh no… what do I do in this situation, Sonic panicked. He knew Shadow would not come to the door until it was the scheduled time, but what did that leave Sonic to do? The blue hog knew he was there, should he just walk out or should he just wait at the door for Shadow to knock? Sonic was frantic trying to decipher the secret code that was dating. He had thought he had most things figured out in his life but he was gravely mistaken. Sonic felt like he was going to die in the middle of his foyer. I'm supposed to be the cool guy, Sonic thought, why do I feel like… Sonic was whisked suddenly to a different time when a small baby blue hedgehog was being questioned by an equally small rabbit boy underneath a jungle gym. "What's wrong with you? You're always here alone. Don't you have parents?" the rude rabbit remarked snidely. "Um… well," Sonic began to muster the courage to say something back to the boy but was interrupted. "I bet they left him, who would want a shrimp like him, anyway?" a larger bear child spoke up from beside the rabbit. The tiny hoglet's mind was racing, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to run. But he didn't. He knew he was strong; he had always made it on his own without anyone's help. Something snapped within the blue child and he stood tall against his playground bullies and did the only other thing he knew how besides running; smooth talk. "Uh, duh. I don't have parents. I went off on my own, I don't need them. Don't you know who I am." The two kids in front of him looked captivated by the small child's sudden confident behavior. "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, I can run laps around you both, and don't you forget it." The adult Sonic was standing in his house once again, "What is wrong with me," he said to himself, "I have always made my own rules, this is no different." Sonic put on the biggest most confident grin he could manage and grabbed his door handle. The strong willed Mobian pulled the door open with pride but was immediately met with a raised hand and ruby eyes. Shadow had just been about to knock on the door when Sonic decided to make his presence known. The cerulean male jumped back feeling his confidence leave him once more.

"Ahem, please excuse me, I know I am a little early." Shadow said not taking notice of the leap Sonic had just done. "No, its cool. I'm ready." Sonic stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Shadow looked over his date for the evening. Sonic was well kept as usual but today he was sporting a red and white letterman jacket. The article seemed to be a tad oversized for Sonic's small frame but in a fashionable way. It was June, Shadow thought, far too hot for Sonic to were something of the sort for mere comfort. Shadow's mind did flips, did he wear that so he could look…cute? The dark hog glanced down to Sonic's feet, and saw he was not wearing his normal sneakers either. Both males walked back to where Shadow had parked his motorcycle, when he decided to take Rouge's advice, and do what he felt he should. "You look very nice" Shadow said not making eye contact with the other. The quills on the back of Sonic's neck stood up at the complement. He turned to Shadow with pink blush dusting his face but couldn't find any words. They reached the vehicle and Shadow pointed to the footwear the blue hero was wearing. "Those seem familiar though." "Oh, Yeah, my Soap shoes. I haven't worn them in a long time. The last time you probably saw me wear them was when we first met." Sonic paused, maybe it had not been a good idea to wear those particular shoes for their date, too many bad memories. Before Sonic could second guess himself, any further Shadow's smirk caught the speedster's attention. "Is that so, well, I have to admit I feel unequipped to keep up with how cool you look today." Shadow said glancing at Sonic with a half-lidded gaze that sent shivers down the hero's back. "Hold on." Shadow said reaching into the compartment on the back of his bike pulling out a pair of sport framed, green tinted sun glasses and placing them on his own head, "This shall have to do for the time being." Shadow looked at Sonic and waited for his date's response to his new accessory.

Sonic stared at the other in amazement, was this really the same edgy hedgehog he had met so many years ago. Sonic liked this new side to his rival; it was playful and sort of sweet. Something he did not see very often from the dark one, and he hoped it was here to stay. He did feel a little embarrassed though, he had not expected Shadow to be so suave when it came to this dating stuff, he seemed so clueless toward everything else. Little did Sonic know, Shadow was a nervous wreck on the inside, waiting for Sonic's response as the other was taking too long to react. "I don't know, I think you're keeping up with me just fine." Sonic said gesturing a thumb to the bike before them. "Of course, I don't know why ya need this thing." Shadow got on the bike in question and gripped the handle bars, "I don't, but I do like it." Sonic took notice of the red accents on the bike, it must have been a custom paint job, Sonic pieced the clues together in his mind. "Oh, so it's just for fun." Sonic stated flashing a cocky grin. Shadow just rolled his eyes and motioned for Sonic to take a seat behind him. The hog did as he was instructed and soon realized how close the other male's body was. "Hold on tight." Shadow said as he revved up his engine. Sonic smiled, "Could you be anymore cliché?" Shadow halted his movements, then turned his head around to meet Sonic's gaze. "Is this bad?" Shadow said like a lost child, unsure and new to his surroundings. There he was, Sonic thought, the Shadow that was trying his best even though he had no clue how most of the world worked. Sonic now felt like jerk. "No… this is wonderful." Sonic quietly assuring the hedgehog he was currently wrapping his arms around. They took off down the road leaving nothing but dust behind.

Sonic had to admit, the bike was fast, like really fast. Both hedgehogs sped down the twists and turns of the road with ease. Shadow showing his vehicle skills at every chance he got, without risking Sonic's safety of course. "Man, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to show off." Sonic yelled into Shadow's back over the sound of the whipping winds. Shadow continued to stare straight ahead with his naturally neutral expression, "Maybe I am." Sonic couldn't help but feel Shadows back muscles through his fur, they were just pressed so close. Sonic remembered the day Shadow had fought the giant spider robot at the egg base and tore its limb off with little to no effort. He remembered taking in every inch of Shadow's powerful body. How could something so mighty be concealed in someone so small compared to others? Had Shadow been trying to get his attention on purpose that day as well? If he had, Sonic thought, it sure as hell worked. The blue male had been hot and bothered for days after that.

Before Sonic knew what was happening, they were parked again. The blue hog looked up to find they where in front of a quaint little restaurant that looked more like a bakery, most likely family owned. The door was painted a bright turquoise, and flower boxes hung below each window filled to the brim with flowers of all kinds. The sign out front read ( Aunt Bee's ). "Hopefully this this will be a much more pleasant experience than the last eatery I chose." Shadow said swinging his leg off the bike and reaching for the underneath of Sonic's arms to help him off as well. Sonic scanned the area for unwanted eyes observing the male hedgehogs' interactions. Unfortunately, the sound of the motorcycle had grabbed the attention of a few costumers inside that where watching carefully through the bakery windows. "Nah, I got it man." Sonic said pushing Shadows hands away and nodding over to the window. Shadow realized the issue and nodded back in understanding but also a small amount of disappointment. Sonic struggled slightly but, in the end, managed to dismount the vehicle. "Hey, if anyone says anything can you just tell them we are out on G.U.N business or something like that?" Sonic whispered to Shadow who just "hmphed" in response. On the inside however Shadow was cursing himself, he knew Sonic wanted to keep this secret for now, but he had not taken into account that he was on a date with practically a celebrity. Perhaps somewhere more low key would have been a better choice, Shadow thought, and hadn't Sonic learned that he was useless when it came to making fabrications.

They entered the charmingly decorated establishment and a little bell rang behind them as the door closed, alerting everyone to their presence. They seated themselves by a window and were greeted by a young dark-skinned human girl with long black hair tide back into a pony tail. "Hi, my name Diana, and I will be your waitress today. Here are your menus, can I get you any thing to drink while you decide?" "Um… ill take a water," Sonic said as he glanced to Shadow. Shadow had learned from his previous mistakes, and answered maybe a little to fast this time. "I'll take a house coffee, please." The girl seemed naturally nervous as she absent mindlessly shook her leg, but she smiled through it and walked away. "I wasn't sure this place was going to have real food or not," Sonic said looking over the menu, "I thought you were taking me out to have cake for dinner." Shadow's neutral expression was unchanging as he continued to study his own menu, "I enjoy their soups, but they do have one item I'm positive you shall be pleased with." The striped hog turned his menu to face Sonic and pointed to a picture of a chilly dog served with a fresh bakery bun and toped with homemade organic chilly. Emerald eyes lit up like Christmas lights and fawn lips spread wide into a goofy smile. "Besides you got a problem with cake?" Shadow said playfully.

Shadow and Sonic had finished their meals and where now waiting for their waitress to return. Sonic had his chin resting in his hand as he gazed out the window at the street and the few people that would occasionally pass by. Shadow watched Sonic carefully taking in all the hedgehog's mannerisms but his concentration was interrupted by his phone going off. He reached into his quills and pulled out the devise and checked his texts.

Rouge:

How's the date going? Not too busy sucking on each other's faces, are you?

"What is it?" Sonic questioned. Shadow glances up from his phone and answers, "Rouge." In a flat irritated manner turning his phone on silent. "Oh, so I'm guessing she does know." Shadow looked at Sonic apologetically, "Please forgive me, she knew about my side of the matter from the beginning." "I don't blame you for that, Tails knows all of my dirty little secrets as well." Sonic said with a smile. "Ah, yes that makes sense, he was the one who invited me to your party." Shadow said taking the last sip of his coffee. "Yeah? I figured as much." Sonic rolled his eyes with exacerbation. Sonic's eye was suddenly caught on Shadows phone. "Wow, is that the newest iPhone?" Before Shadow could answer, Sonic was already grabbing the devise and looking at the case it was nestled in, "Nice case. Green huh? Didn't expect that." Shadow allowed the compulsive hedgehog to take the phone from him, "Yes, it is my favorite color." Sonic just looked up from the phone with a soft smile and Shadow stared back into Sonic's lovely eyes as if they where trapped inside of one of Rouge's cheesy romantic comedies. As if on cue, the waitress returned, "Uh, can I get you two anything for dinner, I mean desert? Sorry." The girl said nervously. "Ha ha, it's cool." Sonic said reassuring the stressed girl. "Thank you, it just my first day on the job, and I get nervous pretty easy." The girl rambled trying to explain herself for her insignificant mistake. "Well you are doing excellent thus far," Shadow spoke up from his seat catching the attention of his blue date, "and I think we will have a couple slices of strawberry cheesecake, is that alright with you." Sonic turned back to the waitress, "Yeah, that sounds good."

Soon Diana had served the hedgehogs their deserts and they looked amazing. The cheese cakes where decorated with strawberries cut into the shape of flowers and the whole thing was smothered in strawberry syrup. They both dug in. "This looks so good, dude." Sonic took a bite and realized that Shadow was already a quarter of the way through with his. "Okay, I know I'm the last person that needs to be saying this but, it's not a race." Shadow looked up from the treat he was currently devouring with big questioning eyes and his mouth full. "Oh my Gods," Sonic said trying not to cause a scene over the cuteness being splayed out before him, "I would have never thought in a million years you had a sweet tooth." Shadow just blushed, realizing he must have looked like a pig. Sonic was soon done with his cake after a couple more bites. He tried to offer the rest of it to his date, but Shadow refused not wanting to embarrass himself any further. They paid for their meal and were just about to leave when they heard a commotion coming from the other end of the restaurant. An older human man was rudely talking down to Diana, "This is not what I ordered! Can't you get a simple order, right?!" Diana looked back with wide frightened eyes, "I-I'm s-s-sorry about that sir I'll f-fix that for you." The man abruptly slammed his hands down on the table scaring Diana and causing the drinks she was carrying to spill all over the man pants. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!!!" the man shouted standing up about to get in the terrified girls face. Sonic was about to confront the man himself when suddenly Shadow shot up from his seat. Before the disgruntled customer could process what was happening to him, he was on his knees, having been dragged down by his shirt collar. The man was now face to face with what he could only assume to be the eyes of a demon. "This transgression was obviously an accident and I don't believe that is how you treat a lady," Shadow bared his sharp teeth, "She is already nervous having this be her first day, the last thing she needs is a waist of life like yourself making her life harder than it needs to be." Shadow recomposed his face giving the man a menacing smile, "Now, are you going to cry over spilled milk like a child, or are you going to be a man and take your seat." With that said Shadow threw the now frightened man into his booth seat and turned to Sonic who was standing behind him. The dark hero grasped the shocked blue one's hand and took off running out the restaurant doors.

Shadow hopped on his bike and revved the engine, "Hurry get on before the cops show up." Sonic complied and wrapped his arms around Shadows waist once more. The hero of the night, sped off doing a wheelie as he exited the parking lot. The entire time Sonic could not wipe the stupid smile he had off his face. The blue hog didn't realize it, but he was holding on to Shadow a little tighter than he had been before. They where silent as they made there way down the road until Shadow spoke up. "I am fully aware I caused a scene, but I will not apologize for what I did, I do not regret it." Shadow stared ahead with a serious look, "If you would like me to return you home I shall." Sonic looked dumbfounded at the man before him, driving a motorcycle down the freeway after just serving up some much-needed justice like it was nothing. "Are you kidding me… that was fucking AWESOME!!!" Sonic shouted in excitement, "WOO HOO!!! Let's go get into some trouble." "What?" Shadow said taken aback by his date's language. He looked over his shoulder only to see the street lights reflecting in Sonic's wild eye's. "You heard me. let's see what this baby can do. Come on, crank up the radio and rev it up!" Shadow felt something like a high begin to take hold of him, as he did what he was told. He looked back at Sonic with an evil smirk, flashing his canines, making the young hog's heart ignite. "As you wish."

Sonic runs at the speed of sound on a daily basis but he hadn't felt his heart pound in his chest like this in a long time. The pair were bobbing and weaving in-between cars; receiving the occasional angry honks. Sonic would have been concerned for civilian safety had the driver of the vehicle not been Shadow. He knew what he was doing. They sped off onto an exit and jumped a median. Before long, the time had passed them by and the moon hung in the blue tinted night sky over head. All the cars on the road seemed to had disappeared, leaving nothing but a moving silhouette against a starry back drop. Everything was tranquil and Shadow had never felt so at peace with himself. He had gone on many night drives before, but for some reason having Sonic wrapped around him made the experience far better. The song currently playing on the radio changed over to the next, but not before the DJ announced that next song was a ninety's throwback. The song was slower but obviously rock, not the typical metal that played on this particular station. Shadow was about to change the station when Sonic said, "I like this song." Shadow let the radio be and listened to the soft rock that played through the speakers. Soon he realized that it was another one of those love songs, the lyric slightly deeper than the pop songs he had heard. Shadow found he was enjoying the melody. All of a sudden, Sonic's arms had move up higher than they once were, and his head was resting on Shadow's back as they cruised. Shadow had an impulse in that moment that he decided to give in to, he felt it was right. Shadow took one of his hands off the handles to his bike and placed it over the top Sonic's, gripping it and holding the hand close to his chest. They road like that in silence even after the song had ended, just the two of them and the moon.

The hedgehogs were now at an empty four-way intersection waiting at a red light that seemed to be taking forever. Their moment was ruined however when a hot rod caring a mob of teenagers blasting rap out of their sound system, pulled up beside the couple. The car caused the environment around it to vibrate. Shadow and Sonic both looked over when the driver side window began to roll down releasing billows of smoke and an interesting smell. Reveled on the other side was a teenage lizard of some breed, giving the dark hog a cocky smirk and laying on the gas to show off his car's power. Perhaps it was too dark for the lizard to tell who was on the back of the bike or maybe he just did not care. "Hey Shadow, lets race this punk." Sonic said tapping the striped hog's shoulder to gain his attention. "Sonic, what is wrong with you, what happened to the goodie-two-shoes hero of Mobius I picked up today?" "I left him at home. Come on, I'm having more fun than I've had in a long time, it's great to just let loose for once." Shadow was caught off guard by Sonic's statement, he felt like there was a deeper meaning to what was said. "Please, it wouldn't be the first time I've been involved in illegal activities." Sonic finish with a wink. What kind of stuff did Sonic get up to? The light was about to change and Shadow made his decision by revving his engine hard, challenging the teen with a smirk of his own. The light changed from red to green in a second and both vehicles were off down the road at top speeds. They were neck and neck, Sonic whooping and hollering the whole way. The lizard was pressed against his seat with his car going a fast as it could possibly go. "Okay, I think we've messed with them enough, step on it!" Sonic instructed Shadow, who happily complied. The bike was yet again on one-wheel blasting ahead of the hot rod, burning rubber and leaving the teens in the dust.

"Okay where to now?" Sonic questioned. "Well, I was wanting to pick something up from my place, if that would be alright?" Shadow said already heading in the direction of Club Rouge. "That's fine." They made it back into town and followed the sound of club music until they reached their destination. Shadow parked his bike in the garage beside the main building. Both hedgehogs got off of the bike, this time Sonic accepting the help offered to him. Shadow pulled out his emerald, "I'll be right back." He said leaving Sonic alone in the garage. Sure, enough Shadow was back within a second, this time reappearing from a side door that most likely lead to the club. Shadow leaned through the door hiding half his body, "I know I'm a week late, but I am aware that one is supposed to receive presents on their birthday." Sonic was curious, but he felt bad that Shadow had felt obligated, "Shadow, you didn't have to." The dark male held up a hand as Sonic approached his hiding spot, "I insist; besides I saw this in the window of a shop and it made me think of you." Shadow now felt a little bashful having said that out loud. Sonic just had this way of making people around him melt into the palm of his hand. Shadow pulled the gift out from behind the door and Sonic wanted to scream. In the dark hogs' hands was a five-foot body pillow in the shape of a giant hot dog. The bun was a golden brown and the frank was dark pink and stitched separately from the bun. Sonic snatched the item and held it out with excitement, "Oh my Gods, when I sleep with it, I can be the chilly." Sonic knew he probably looked like the biggest dork in the world, squealing over a fabric version of his favorite comfort food. Shadow just smiled at the blue hedgehog's cute reaction and silently wished he was the gift as it was being squished tight against Sonic's body.


	7. The Night Continues

Ch. 7 The Night Continues

It was midnight and both hedgehogs had not intended for their date to last so long, but they still did not want to call the night quits. Sonic motioned for the other to fallow him out of the garage giant hot dog still in hand. The sapphire hero sat on the side walk as the striped hog closed the garage doors behind them. Shadow sat next to Sonic and it felt familiar, like the way it felt at Sonic's party on the front steps. Shadow decided to speak first, "So, I did not expect you to have a bad streak to you." Sonic just looked to the stars in the sky, "Well I used to." "Seems like it is still there." Shadow said staring at the lights above as well. "Yeah well, my life is not my own anymore so…" Sonic played with fabric of his jacket sleeves. "What do you mean?" Shadow peered at Sonic from the corner of his eye. Sonic's face was suddenly a large smile; eyes still locked on the heavens. "You know, I have always wished I could be like you." Shadow was silent as he just listened to what was being divulged to him. "You save the world, but you were smart enough to not make yourself public. Having the entire world looking at you is… stressful. I've changed a lot over the years and not cause I wanted to. Because if I didn't…" Shadow decided to speak, "You feel like you would upset people with who you really are." Sonic finally turned to his counterpart with a look of dysphoria, "Exactly, I used to be the rude dude, with the attitude. Now I have to keep up this good squeaky-clean image and act confident all the time even if I'm not, because there are too many people counting on me to have all the answers. But you, you don't seem to care whether people see you as a hero, villain, hell even if people find out about us. And I feel like shit because I want to keep it hidden, I'm the problem."

Shadow blinked slowly taking in Sonic's face, it had never looked so sad, and Shadow wanted it stop. It wasn't natural. "I don't find you a problem, even before all this, you had my respect, and I do care about… certain things. I understand what it is like to be expected to be perfect." Sonic focused on Shadow's eyes searching for something in the ruby irises. Shadow held his hand up to his upper lip in deep thought. He was trying to decode the enigma of Sonic's feelings when he did not understand his own. "It appears to me that you do not respect yourself." Shadow said causing his blue counterpart to mock laugh. "Me! Not respect myself? Have you met me; I have the biggest ego this side of Modius?" "It would seem so to everyone else, but is that part of yourself, or a rouse as well? I have not spent much time with you alone, but I have already learned so much about the real Sonic." Sonic smiled, "Yeah? Well I've gotten to see the real Shadow as well, and let me tell you, he is absolutely the coolest dude I've ever met." "Oh, not an edge lord?" Shadow said back, glad his date was smiling again. "Well, yeah you're still an edge lord, just an acceptable level of edge." Shadow gave a soft chuckle, "I see. Even when I beat up defenseless humans?" "Oh, that guy had it coming; besides you didn't hurt him. And, I could tell that waitress had struck a chord with you." Shadow stared at the ground in shame, "I do not operate well in new situations myself; I suppose I felt for her." "He he, I know, I think its cute." Shadow was red with blush. Sonic thought he was cute, Shadow thought to himself. "I am not cute. I'm manly, intimidating, and formidable." Shadow tried to defend his pride. "You're that too, obviously. You can add hot to the list as well." Sonic gave the blush ridden hedgehog a flirtatious grin with his own pink hue gracing his cheeks. Shadow huffed, "don't be ridiculous."

The hedgehogs found that their hands had brushed against each other, but recoiled on instinct. Shadow once again took the lead and reached his hand out for Sonic to take it. Their fingers intertwined. "I like this," Sonic said suddenly, "I feel like I can just sit here with you and be myself." "So, you feel the same?" Shadow commented; both hedgehogs star gazing again. "Yeah… like we… can just sit outside a garage on the sidewalk, just being us, and that's enough." Shadow soaked in Sonic's beauty that radiated from the hero's soul. "No front to keep up, no lies, no judgment; just you, me and a giant hot dog." Shadow groaned a little at Sonic ruining the mood.

Shadow stood up still holding Sonic's hand, "I better get you back home." Sonic looked somber at the realization that he would have to return home and potentially wait another week or possibly more, depending on how G.U.N decided to feel. Sonic nodded in compliance. Shadow took his Chaos emerald out once more and within a flash, the couple where standing at Sonic's door step. Sonic turned to his Chaos control taxi service, "Hey. Do you have to work tomorrow?" "Yes… but not until late. Why?" Shadow responded releasing his grip from his date's hand. "I… really don't want this to end just yet. Would you like to come inside and maybe spend the night? Shadow was fighting the heat that was building in his chest. He was certain Sonic hadn't intended what he said to sound so suggestive. The blue hero looked back with pleading eyes. "If that would make you happy." Shadow said composing his breathing, "I was under the impression however, that staying at your date's place was not typical for a first date, but I am unsure of how this works." Sonic laughed, "We are adults, we don't have to abide by a rule book. If I want to stay up with you all night watching movies and playing video games I will. I mean if that's okay with you?" Shadow motioned to the door, "After you."

Sonic walked in taking off his jacket and hanging it on a coat rack behind the door. Shadow stepped through into Sonic's house and found that the hedgehog's place was surprisingly barren much like his loft. Only a few possessions littered the house. An old television sat on the floor out of the way along with a gaming system and a basket that seemed to contain games and various movies. Against the wall was a gray couch with a simple wooden coffee table adjacent to it. Along the walls above the couch where book shelves, surprisingly brimming with books of all kinds. other than that, the living room was empty. Shadow approached the shelves and read some of the tittles. _Sherlock Holmes, Treasure Island, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Tales of King Arthur and the Round Table, Homer's Odyssey. "_I did not expect you to be a book worm." Shadow said with a smug grin. "Yeah, my favorites are fiction and adventure." Sonic said with total normalcy, "I'm actually really getting into the original, _Alice in Wonderland_, its surprisingly kind of creepy, but in cool way." "Ah…" Shadow said taking in the new information, "I prefer historical literature myself." "Why? That stuff can be interesting but usually its just depressing." Sonic said setting up the TV. "Perhaps." Shadow sat next to Sonic who had laid down pillows to rest upon along with his new body pillow. "Okay, what would you like to play?" Sonic asked the male, attempting to get comfortable in the sea of pillows. "Whatever you want. I've never played a video game." Sonic was not surprised. He reached into the basket and pulled a case out and held it up to Shadow, "How about this one, its got guns." Shadow raised a brow, "I'm listening." The sapphire hedgehog snorted, "You are so predictable, dude."

Shadow was very good at the games to Sonic's dismay. "Dude, you hustled me. There is no way you have never played a video game before." Sonic said moving the controller in his had in unison with his character on the screen. The hedgehogs had decided to move on from the first-person shooter, that Shadow was by far superior at than the blue hog, and had started to play a racing game. Shadow still reigned supreme however. The dark male sat calmly flicking the joy stick of the controller with expert precision. "Don't feel too bad, I was designed to have excellent hand-eye coordination even if it's in regard to a tiny screen." Shadow's eyes never left the game but Sonic was determined to win one way or another. The losing hedgehog leaned over to his jet-black counterpart and reach under his arm, wiggling his fingers. "What are you doing?" Shadow asked unfazed by the action. "Tickling you. Don't tell me you are not ticklish either." Shadow was once again reminded of a friend from long ago by Sonic childish antics. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but, no." Shadow kept one hand on the controller and the other shot out at Sonic's side, "But if you are going to attempt to play dirty, expect your enemies to do the same." Sonic was giggling like a little kid completely forgetting about the game in his fit. Shadow continued to assault the cerulean hog causing him to fall over accidentally giving his attacker more access to his body. "Stop. Stop. STOP!" the last word coming out angrier than expected. The game had been completely abandoned now, with the screen displaying the characters in 12th and 11th place.

Shadow leaned on one arm leering over the hog that was still laying down across his side, "You are very interesting, Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic sat back up, "Thanks, I guess. What is that supposed to mean?" "Well, one minute you are encouraging me to engage in illegal road races in the dead night, and the next you are giggling on the floor like a small child." Shadow stated seemingly without emotion, but at the same time brushed away a stray quill that had fallen out of place on the blue hero's face. "You're scaring me." Sonic said abruptly. Shadows eyes went wide, "I- I'm sorry. I don't understand…" Sonic scooted a little closer and met Shadows crimson eyes that glowed in the dark. "I think you are so handsome and wonderful and that terrifies me, because I was kind of was hoping we would go on a date or two and then go our separate ways. I was counting on this just being something fun that wouldn't work out in the end, so life would go back to normal. But its never going to be the same again is it? I can't even talk to my best friend the way I talk to you." Sonic's eyes became glassy but no tears fell from them, "If we keep going the way we are, someone will find out eventually. And I don't want this to end; I don't want you to leave." Shadow leaned in closer just as Sonic had, "It doesn't have to end and I'm not going anywhere. I will do my best to keep this a secret for you until you are ready. To be honest, I was not completely fine at first discovering my sexuality, but I find that I simply do not care what others would think because you have made me the happiest I have ever been, even when you are not present. That being said, it matters to me not either way, as long as you are at least present in my life for at least the rest of your natural life, I will be content." It had never crossed Sonic's mind that Shadow was essentially immortal, and how that effected his relationships. Perhaps Sonic was being selfish. "I am not usually comfortable with physical contact, but when it comes to you it feels alright," the dark male said feeling another instinct taking over, "May I kiss you?"

Sonic stared at the man before him in wonder and gave in to the other. He closed the gap between them, their lips pressed together. Shadow pulled Sonic even closer to him by cupping the arch of the blue ones back. They stayed that way for a long time; eyes closed feeling the warmth of each other enrapturing them. Sonic brought a hand up to Shadow's face as they pulled away. The younger male licked the elder's lip asking for entry. "um… why did you just…" Shadow said confused. "Just open your mouth." Shadow nervously did as he was told and Sonic locked lips with him again. This time the blue hog was feeling around the dark one's mouth with his tongue. "Just fallow my lead." Sonic whispered briefly before he was attached to Shadow's face once more. Shadow tried his best to feel around Sonic's mouth as well and battle with the moist muscle. He thought he would be disgusted by this, but it was quite the contrary. Every inch of the hybrids body was engulfed in flames. He felt his partner let out a soft moan into his mouth, that caused Shadow to melt. Elvis had been right, Shadow thought, _lord almighty the flames are now licking my body._ Shadow gave in and let his body do what it wanted. The hand that had been resting on Sonic's back was being lowered to dangerous areas causing the blue male to gasp and pull away. "Sorry, was that not right? Shadow gasped out embarrassed. "No, I just didn't expect you to do that." Sonic said with a laugh. "Oh..." Shadow said dumbly sporting the reddest face known to man. Sonic looked down and noticed Shadows thighs pressing together trying to stifle the heat that was threatening to make its self known. "Maybe we should stop before we take things to far." Sonic said giving Shadow a patient smile. Shadow stared back at Sonic with confusion once more before the realization hit him. "Oh, yes, absolutely." He cleared his throat, "I don't believe I'm ready for…um…that." Sonic leaned back on the palms of his hands, "Obviously not if don't know how to make out." "I apologize." Shadow stated. "Hey it's alright, I figured you were a fifty-year-old virgin, given you never really got the chance to even be in a relationship." Sonic said sticking his tongue out playfully at his inexperienced friend, "Besides, I'm not ready for that yet, either." "Yes," Shadow said taking Sonic's words seriously, "but are you not a…virgin, as well?" it was Sonic's turn to be embarrassed, "No. I've done it once, with a girl. It wasn't anything special." "Well I would imagine not, if she was female." Shadow said cocking an eye brow. "That's not the only reason. It was a long time ago, and I was kind of pressured into it." Sonic looked away wishing to not talk anymore on the matter.

Shadow dropped the subject. "We should probably head to bed." Sonic announced looking at the time that now read (2:21 AM). "Alright I'll sleep on the couch." The dark male said picking up a pillow to use. "Um, like no. That couch is tiny. You'll have back problems sleeping on that thing." Sonic said waving Shadow away. "It's fine really, I have no need to be concerned with spinal issues." Sonic grabbed the hand of the stubborn hog and lead him down the hall. They stood in a small room that was mainly made up of a queen-sized bed and a miniature dresser. Lying on the floor was Sonic's normal footwear, lovingly tucked halfway under the bed. The comforter on the bed was red with white pin stripes, but other than that the room was fairly simple. The blue hog removed his Soap shoes and placed them beside the others, now only wearing socks and gloves. Shadow sighed and took off his hover shoes and did the same with them. Sonic laid down in the bed covering himself and wrapping his arms around his hot dog body pillow. He patted the bed giving Shadow the side that was against the wall. Sonic figured that is the side the dark male would prefer due to his personality. Shadow decided to not fight Sonic on this any further and crawled into bed as well. Sonic had his back to Shadow cuddling the fabric frank in his grasp. Silence fell over the two for a long while before Sonic spoke, "You can hold me if you want. I don't mind." Shadow took that as permission to wrap his arms around the blue torso of the male and pull him close to his chest. Shadow took in the young Mobian's sent and felt Sonic's heart beat against his hands. He was in bliss as they spooned and both hedgehogs drifted off to sleep unaware that Shadow's phone, that was on silent, was receiving messages.

Rouge:

Hey, is the date going good? Don't need me to come save you?

Rouge:

Come on you're not mad over the face sucking thing, are you?

Rouge:

Um, hey it is getting pretty late. Are you okay?

Rouge:

Um it's like 12 and I literally just saw you sneak in and now you're gone again. What's up?

Rouge:

It is 2 in the morning are you not coming home? OMG Shadow what are u and blue doing!?

Rouge:

Shadow, I swear to Chaos u can't just leave me hanging like this.

Rouge:

If you two are doing the dirty, you better tell me all the juicy details when you come back, I deserve it after what you have put me through tonight.


	8. They’re on to Us

Ch 8 They're On To Us

Sonic was the first to wake surprisingly. He had never been so content in his life while lying in the arms of the hybrid, and the only reason he woke up was so he could be awake before Shadow left. Sonic rolled out of the bed, literally, attempting to slide from the dark arms latching on to him without waking up their owner. When he reached the floor, he tip toed over to his door but not without turning around one last time to observer the sleeping male in his bed. The dark hog's face was comfortable and his chest rose as he was breathing slowly. Something caught Sonic's attention; three pairs of shoes laid under the bed. Sonic's soaps, his sneakers, and finally Shadow's shoes. All of them sat next to each other as if it was meant to be that way. Sonic almost felt bad that he would have to grab his sneaks from the middle and ruin the harmony.

Sonic ventured down the hall after quietly closing his bed room door. He made it past the bathroom and into the living room like he was on a stealth assignment and then made a sharp left. The hero was now standing in his kitchenette. His clock on the stove read (8:05) and Sonic was astonished at his own ability wake at such an ungodly hour for himself. He didn't stand around for long though because this hedgehog was on a mission. The hog opened up his fridge. It usually only contained the bare essentials but today was different, because Amy had gone to the farmer's market recently and bought him his own box of fresh strawberries. The blue hedgehog had hatched the idea last night while he laid in Shadow's arms trying to fall asleep; Sonic had all the ingredients to make French toast with strawberries on top. Sonic's kitchen typically did not see much use, but since he now knew of Shadow's sugar addiction, he could at least attempt to make him a sweet breakfast. French toast is pretty easy to make anyway, Sonic thought as he laid out the ingredients.

The small counter space was over taken by eggs, milk, sugar, bread, maple syrup, and of course the strawberries. Sonic took the eggs from the carton and began cracking each one into a bowl. He then poured in the milk and the sugar, and found some cinnamon in his spice rack, he had had for years, to add to the mix. Sonic did not use a measuring cup for his ingredients, instead going off of instinct alone, partially because he did not own one. After stirring his concoction, Sonic dipped every piece of bread he had left, into it, giving an even coat on both sides. The sapphire chef greased up a pan and started to cook ever piece, marveling at his handy work when each was done. He was half way through and had managed only get distracted for a couple seconds, burning two of the toasts; he was doing pretty well. Suddenly Sonic was hit with confusion; why was he doing this? Yeah, it was for Shadow, he thought, but why was he making such a fuss over the still slumbering man down the hall. They had only been on one real date and he was already acting like some house wife. In fact, Sonic's thoughts had been filled with nothing but the striped hybrid for the past month, and Sonic did not want to drive Shadow away with excessive doting. Would Shadow be weirded out with the sudden gesture? Then again, Sonic really wanted to do something nice for Shadow. He had shown him such a good time last night. Sonic smiled, "No, I'm just overthinking things again."

Without warning, knocking was heard from the front door. Sonic turned in puzzlement, at a loss for who it could possibly be. It didn't matter, Sonic thought, I'll just see what they want then get back to cooking. The hog opened the door, "Hello?" suddenly Sonic was being attacked by the hug of a pink female. Amy Rose stood in his door way, squeezing the life from Sonic's body. "Oh, Sonic! Good Morning!" The pink girl said releasing the boy, "I didn't know if you would be up yet." Sonic caught his breath, "Amy, what are you doing here?" the rose hog pushed past the hero entering his home much to Sonic's dismay. "I was in the neighborhood and I thought I'd ask if you where going to be going by Tails' place today." Sonic was playing it cool, but all he wanted was for the headstrong girl to get out. "I might, why?" "Well I barrowed some tools from him and thought if you were swinging by, you could deliver them for me." Amy looked into the living room and saw the mound of pillows in front of the TV and gaming console, still there from the night before. "You been playing some video games?" Amy asked taking notice of the two-player split screen that was still present, but choosing not to say anything. Before Sonic could answer her question, Amy asked another, "Something smells good. Whatcha makin'?" "Uh… Oh, French toast." Amy eyed the strawberries she had bought for Sonic that were sitting on the counter then looked to the stack of French toast that was already prepared. "Seems like a lot." Sonic gave a fake chuckle, "Yeah, I dreamed about food last night and I woke up hungry." Amy gave the male a questioning look, "Well as long as you don't overdo it, we don't want you looking like Eggman while trying to save the world." They both laughed at the thought. "Well anyway, here are the tools," Amy said holding out a small tool box and placing it on the table next to her, "I guess I..." Suddenly, the sound of running water being moved through pipes entered their ears. Shadow must be up and using the bathroom, Sonic panicked in his head. "Who's here?" Amy said with irritation in her voice. "No one, sometimes my pipes do that, its been happening for about a week." Amy looked at Sonic with an unreadable expression, "Oh… okay… You need to get Tails to take a look at that then. Wouldn't want to raise your water bill." Amy turned to the door but not before her eyes shifted around the room one more time.

Amy was finally gone leaving Sonic alone in his foyer to reconsider his life decisions. He couldn't believe he had just bull-shit his way out of that, might as well call him Sonic the Weasel. Sonic leaned his back against the door breathing a sigh of relief. From the hallway a door was opened. Shadow emerged from it, tuning off the light to the room as he left. He made his way over to the cerulean hog but stopped when he noticed the look of frustration on the blue hero's face. "What happened?" Sonic shook his head and gave a tired chuckle, "Nothing, don't worry about it." Shadow wasn't convinced but didn't push the matter further because he was smelling something that made his stomach growl. "What's that smell?" "Oh, yeah!" Sonic almost shouted remembering his abandoned breakfast. "I was hoping to have it ready by the time you got up but I guess I… got distracted." Shadow looked over the plate of already prepared French toast stacks, and felt his chest tighten again. No one had ever made him a meal before, not on this planet anyway, not even Rouge. Everyone just assumed that he would not appreciate it or didn't need to eat in general. "Thank you, Sonic. This is unexpected… but appreciated." Sonic couldn't wipe the stupid smile off his face, "Don't thank me yet, you haven't tried them. I'm no five-star chef." Sonic turned his back to Shadow as he began to cut the strawberries. Shadow moved next to Sonic and grabbed a knife of his own to help, "I'm sure it will be wonderful."

Shadow and Sonic cut the fruit side by side, the dark hog was a lot more dexterous when it came to a knife than his companion. Shadow leaned down mid chop, and placed a small kiss on the blue male's temple. The assaulted hedgehog squeaked in surprise and turned to the offending man with a deep crimson face. "S-Shadow!" Shadow grinned at his flustered counterpart and gained a blush of his own, "I'm sorry, but it felt like the right thing to do." Sonic's embarrassment began to turn into a cheeky grin, "Well… keep fallowing those instincts I guess."

Shadow was pleasantly surprised by Sonic's cooking. He drenched his breakfast in syrup and laid on the strawberries. Shadow dug into the food and smiled at the blue chef when he took the first bite. Sonic's heart fluttered in his chest; he didn't think he would ever get used to the surprise smiles Shadow would allow him to see. He wondered if anyone had ever seen the broody hog really smile besides him. Sonic remembered the day the pair had played Marco and Polo in Hill Top zone. Sonic had been so taken aback at first when he realized that Shadow the hedgehog, was actually attempting to play a childish game with him. He hadn't thought the dark male even knew how to have fun, given his usual serious nature. Sonic thought about when he had managed to catch Shadow in the end and seen his smile for the first time.

"Apparently Rouge had been trying to contact me all last night" Shadow said looking at his phone. Shadow's eyes scanned the messages and he almost choked on orange juice when he read the last one. "Oh yeah?" Sonic said with a hint of sadness, "If she's worried, I guess you better go." Shadow finished the last bite of his second helping and went to the sink to wash his plate, "I suppose I must." Shadow placed his now clean plate in the dish drainer and walk back to where the disappointed hero sat. Shadow could see the hurt in the hog's features and felt a strange tinge of pride, knowing that it was his potential absence that was the cause. Shadow knelt down to Sonic's height, as the blue one was still seated, and locked eyes with him. "I would like to do this again with you." Shadow said with his neutral face. Sonic sarcastically laughed and smiled at Shadow, "When? Three months from now. That's enough time for you to forget me and move on to the next hot shot in line." Shadow could tell that even though Sonic was joking there was some sort of underlying cause to Sonic's words. "I will try to get time off as soon as possible, and I could never forget about you Sonic. Trust me, I've tried." Sonic stared at Shadow overlooking the snarky comment and suddenly taking on a much more serious face, "Promise?" Shadow was unflinching but not any less concerned. The dark male was unsure to which statement Sonic was requesting a promise to, but Shadow found that it did not matter either way. "Promise." Shadow said with the same level of seriousness as his blue counterpart. Sonic stared into ruby irises and felt his heart pound. He had just been given a Shadow promise; those transcend time and space; those come back fifty years later to bite people in the ass and then save the world. The sapphire hero was pretty sure, if Shadow promised to give him the world, Sonic would be king by tomorrow. The cerulean male nodded, "Well, I guess you better be going then." Sonic stood up and moved to the door. "Good bye." He heard Shadow's deep voice say form behind him. "Hear just let get the door for you." But it did not matter because without warning Sonic was alone in his house once again. "Oh yeah, Chaos control."

Shadow rematerialized outside Club Rouge. He almost wished Sonic had asked him to stay longer, because he was dreading facing the bat. Not because he was scared of her, but because she would insist on tormenting him at every turn. He could fight her off,combat with Rouge was child's play to him, he just didn't have the heart. With apprehension in his movements he opened the door, and wouldn't you know who was on the other side waiting for him. "Well, well, well, look at what we have here, Omega. A player in the flesh." The hulking robot towered over the bat and registered the aperture of his eye lights. "Rouge. You told Omega, I said to keep this secret for Sonic." Shadow spat at the bat. "Cool your jets Romeo. I've given him specific instructions to keep this information between us three. "AFFIRMATIVE." The robotic voice cut through the air like a knife. "SOOO… how was your little slumber party with blue?" Shadow rolled his eyes at the sultry woman, "I had a very nice time with him, and in regard to spending the night at his place, nothing happened." Rouge gave the hog a suspicious look, "Nothing you say? Whose idea was it for you to spend the night?" "Sonic's of course." Shadow said as if Rouge should had known the answer. "So big blue went on a night long date with you, and then when you took him home, he wanted you to stay the night?" "Yes." Shadow's voice was beginning to show irritation. Rouge looked at Shadow like a proud mama, "Well damn boy, you must have done something good." Shadow started to turn red, embarrassed by the bat's praise. "Still I don't believe for one second that nothing happened between you two." Rouge placed her hands on her hips in a sassy stance. "It's true." Shadow said but was quickly stopped by his winged friend. "Don't hold out on me Shadow, give me the dirt." Shadow gave in to Rouge, he couldn't just blow her off, she had helped him so much over the years, "Well… Sonic referred to it as making out." Rouge's jaw dropped to the floor, "OH. MY. GODS. I didn't expect this to be happening so fast. Well I guess this IS blue we are talking about here, and its not like you two are strangers," Rouge suddenly had an evil smirk make its way onto her face, "Shadow, it looks like you and me are going to have to have…the talk." Shadow took it back, he was scared of Rouge, "I know what intercourse is Rouge! I just… need to know proper courtesy." The bat snorted in laughter, "Okay number one, call it sex or making love. Intercourse is a major mood killer. Second, quit treating it like a mission. With this kind of stuff, you just got to go with the flow. Let your body tell you what to do." Shadow looked like a tomato at this point, "But when I did that he wanted to stop because he didn't want to go that far." Rouge stared at Shadow confused until she once again burst into laughter, "Shadow! Did you touch the butt!" Shadow just silently began to walk in the direction of the pent house elevator doors, "Perhaps I did!" Shadow shouted back at the giggling bat, trying to maintain his pride, "And I regret nothing!"

Later that evening, the whole of team dark had just been briefed on there next mission. All three stood in front of commander Towers and Lieutenant commander Topaz, preparing to leave and get ready for their assignment. The group had just about reached the door when the Commander's loud voice broke the silence, "Agent Shadow, I would like to speak with you in private." Rouge turned to Shadow, wide eyed and made an o with her lips like she was making fun of another kid for being sent to the principal's office. Shadow stayed behind watching his friends leave and turned to face both Towers and Topaz. "Can we wrap this up, I would like to prep for our mission." Shadow said waiting to receive an earful for what ever he could had possibly done. "Shadow. This is very serious." The commander said in a tone that caught the agent's attention, "I don't know what you have done, but the Major General wants to speak with you." Shadow looked back and forth between the commander and Topaz. The short haired female gave Shadow a concerned look that said, I'm sorry. The Major General was a much higher rank than the Commander, in fact he was essentially the head of G.U.N. Shadow had never even met the man before but knew if he wanted to speak with him, it could not be good news.

Shadow was escorted to the Major General's office by two guards both carrying assault riffles in hand. They did not say a word to the hedgehog, not that they would have anyway under different circumstances, and periodically exchanged glances with each other. Shadow felt like he was being walked to the electric chair. They reach a large set of doors and Shadow wondered for a moment if this was going to be the last time, he saw his friends or Sonic ever again. The fear set in, the fear of confinement, the fear of losing everything he had worked so hard for, the fear of losing everyone he knew. If he was put away now, would Sonic think he left him, Shadow thought. This couldn't be the end, Shadow had given his word to the blue hero and the dark hog had just started to feel like maybe he could be… normal. The doors opened as soon as one of the guards pressed a button with a camera above it, on the side of the wall. They stepped inside and Shadow was in disbelief to how many surveillance monitors where in the room. Small screens, one on top of the other covered the walls. Each was labels with a number code and all of them had some image feeding to them from somewhere unknown. The only exception was one dark screen situated in the middle of the working ones, behind a modern looking desk at the end of the room, just at eye level, for a human that is. Sitting at the desk was an older human man probably in his sixty's, with white hair and a residing hair line. The man looked up from the papers he was currently mulling over, and reviled cold grey eyes.

The man stood up and waited for the guards to salute him before motioning for them to wait outside in the hall. "Agent Shadow." The man said with a gruff voice. He obviously smoked, given by the voice and the strong smell of cigars that drenched his uniform. Shadow saluted to the man, "Major General Crow. You requested me." Shadow didn't want to rock the boat but he also hated being treated like a lesser life form, but to get by he would have to play nice for now. "Indeed, I did," the man said dropping his cordial act and taking on the tone of a snake, "It has come to my attention that you have become more… active as of late." The man before the agent took a seat, leaving Shadow to stand. "Sir, forgive me. I don't believe I fallow." Crow held up his papers that he had previously been working on, and chose to acknowledge them more than the living being in front of him. "Well, it seems you have been traveling a lot, alone, to unknown locations and without G.U.N authorization." Shadow stared daggers at the insolent man disrespecting him, "With all due respect sir, any time I have traveled it has been on my own time." The general laughed under his breath, "Agent Shadow, I don't believe you understand. You don't have your own time. When we send you back to that shit hole you live in, that is only because we simply have nothing for you to do at the time." The man dropped his papers back on the desk and locked eyes with Shadow, "You need authorization for everything you do. I don't care if you're eating breakfast, taking a piss or if you're even fucking your new little slut's blue ass, you report to G.U.N first." Shadow stared in shock; he knew about Sonic? Crow sneered, and under his breath mumbled the word, "Disgusting." Shadow woke from his stunned state, visibly enraged. How dare he talk about Sonic, his Sonic, in such a filthy disrespectful manner. Shadow bared his teeth at the man and his quill began to subconsciously raise on their ends, "Do not EVER speak about Sonic in that way again, or ill…" "You'll what? Kill me? Go ahead, cause a scene. Show everyone that they were right about project Shadow from the very beginning. That just gives us an excuse to seal you back up." Shadow paused his anger and turned his face neutral, but continued to look at Crow wishing the man was dead. Shadow was good at concealing his emotions but the monster before him knew he was frightened. "Honestly, you've been walking a thin line for a while now, and allowing that bitch bat to keep an eye on you is not my idea of surveillance. People are scared of you, Shadow. They want you to be put back into stasis probably for another hundred years. You are legally ours. You are government property. You are my weapon. If I had things my way, you would already by back in that pod and only released when I needed you. Like putting a gun back in its case." Shadow was silent listening to every painstakingly awful thing that came from his superior's mouth. "Do you understand now, Agent Shadow? If you cross me ever again, you know what will happen." Shadow said nothing for a few second before looking defeated, "Yes sir." Shadow refused to look at the demon man any longer fearing if he did, he would snap Crow's sorry neck.

Shadow returned to the hall from wince he came, the mechanical doors closing behind him. The guards escorted Shadow back to the main control room where Rouge was nervously waiting for the dark male to return. As soon as Shadow entered the room Rouge spread her wings and zipped over to her friend, concern on her face and the hint of tears in her eyes. Omega stomped over as well picking the hog up in his robotic embrace. Shadow was dangling about a foot off the ground but didn't protest. Rouge was now in his personal space asking him a million and one questions. "Why did Crow want to see you? What did he say? He didn't hurt you, did he? Oh, this is all my fault. We should have been more careful." Shadow let both his friends give him attention, something he was usually not to keen on when in the presence of others, but right now his pride and embarrassment did not matter because he had missed them too. For all they knew there where never going to see him again, and he would never see them. "It's not anything you should concern yourself with." Shadow said apologetically, "Besides they can't do anything to me, I'm their top agent." Shadow didn't fully know if that was true or not, the dark hog wondered if that whole conversation had just been to scare him into submission. "Oh, of course. They're all talk." Rouge laughed nervously, "Why was I even worried." The mechanical man still holding Shadow, made a noise inside his hull that sounded like he was processing something, but the robot did not voice his opinion. "You know what? Let's get some ice cream on the way home. We have twelve hours before we have to meet the helicopter to take us to Solleana, let's do some stress relief in the meantime." Rouge patted down her spy suit looking for something, "I left my keys in my locker, I'll be right back." The bat flew off leaving Omega and Shadow to their own devices. The robot placed Shadow back on the ground, "SHADOW." Shadow turned around and meet Omega's red eye lights with his own irises of the same hue, "Yes?" "", the robot turned down his own volume, "I HAVE CALCULATED THE POSSIBILITIES OF YOUR FUTURE IMPRISONMENT AND I FIND THAT IT IS GREATLY POSSIBLE." Shadow nodded listening to his metal friend. "IF THE HUMANS HAVE IMPRISONED YOU IN THE PAST IT IS HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE THAT THEY WILL REPEAT THEIR ACTIONS IN THE FUTURE. G.U.N HAS FUNCTIONED WITHOUT YOU BEFORE; THEY MAY DECIDE THEY COULD FUNCTION WITHOUT YOU NOW." Shadow laid a hand on Omega's chest plate right where his heart would be if he had a real one, "Thank you for being there for me Omega, no matter what happens will you continue to take care of Rouge." The expressionless robot made that sound again coming from within his processors, "AFFIRMATIVE, FILING REQUEST, CREATING NEW FOLDER, FOLDER NAME, SHADOW'S REQUEST."

Soon Rouge was back holding her keys and a jug off something mysterious. "Come on you two, I don't got all day." She shook the jug in her hand and winked at Omega, "And don't worry big fella, I snagged some motor oil from the supply closet for you too." Shadow couldn't help but grin and look up to his hulking comrade. Omega adjusted his eye lights to meet the jug in question, "SWEET."

Shadow, Rouge, and Omega Stood on the top of a building overlooking the beautiful city of Solleana. Team Dark huddled together mapping out their next moves. G.U.N had located one of Eggman's secret robot manufacturing plants and storage facilities, hidden just outside the city. It was hidden underground disguised by old temple ruins and the surrounding forest. A couple days had passed since there departure, as they had scouted out the area and waited for Dr. Eggman to leave, busy attending to other matters, which had taken longer than expected. The mission was to infiltrate the building and blow it sky high. Once the team knew the plan and their designated positions, they sped off in the direction of the GPS coordinates on their Com Watches. Upon arrival the team scanned the area confirming the suspicions to be true. The group was about to split up when a voice was heard from behind the trio. "Hey! Long time no see. What are you guys doing all the way out here?" The group looked up to see standing on a ledge were all three members of team Sonic. The familiar blue hedgehog smirked at Shadow and gave a wink, which went unnoticed by the other members of Sonic's posse.


	9. SonicThePest

Hi! This chapter I am trying a new format. Hopefully this will be easier to read. If not please let me know.

**...**

Ch. 9 Sonic The Pest

Shadow locked eyes with Sonic,

"We should be asking you the same question."

Shadow couldn't help but wonder how familiar this situation was only the roles being reversed. Sonic slid down the side of the ledge he was perched upon, and Tails and Knuckles fallowed after.

"We were in the neighborhood." Sonic said with his usual cocky grin.

Shadow was surprised, he had almost forgotten how Sonic acted when he was in hero mode. The cocky grin, over confident cheesy lines, and smug looks didn't seem so bad anymore. Yes, they still annoyed the hell out of him, but at least now he knew it wasn't entirely real.

"We actually came to check out this Badnik plant we found, same as you." The two tailed boy spoke up correcting his friend.

"Well don't get to attached to it, in about an hour this place will be rubble." Rouge said placing her hands on her hips.

"What? You're just going to blow it up!" The red echidna shouted at the bat.

"What Knuckles means to say is, there maybe some valuable information in there to where the rest of Eggman's facilities are, and maybe even where his base is." Tails said again keeping another one of his brash friends in line.

Shadow spoke coldly to the trio,

"We have our orders, what you decide to do matters to me none. Just don't get in my way."

Sonic was a little shaken by Shadows words. If he didn't know any better Sonic would have thought Shadow lost his memories again. Was he spoiled with the Shadow he was allowed to know, Sonic thought? Knuckles breathed out an irritated, "Typical." At the dark hog.

"Well, wouldn't it be easier if we worked together?" Sonic said almost nervously hoping to see at least a glimmer of the man he knew.

"No, not really." Shadow said staring through Sonic.

It was now Rouge's turn to keep her team in line, "Actually, if I go with Tails to find the intel, Knuckles and Omega can cover us, while you two zip around and set the bombs."

Shadow looked like he was calculating something in his head.

"That would take the same amount of time as if we were to do it alone," Shadow turned to the building and began to press forward, "Whatever. The more we stand around debating, the more time we waste."

Rouge told the others to go ahead inside while she hung back with Sonic.

"Hey big blue, don't mind Shadow. He has been having it rough back at HQ and when he's working, it is like a switch goes off in his head. He doesn't realize how he acts most of the time. He's very goal oriented and doesn't like distractions."

Sonic nodded to Rouge giving her a signature smile and a thumbs up. The bat watched the hedgehog run after the other, and sighed.

"Maybe you two are just as bad as each other."

Sonic soon caught up to Shadow who turned to the blue hog and said,

"About time you showed up, here, take these."

Shadow forcibly handed Sonic half of the thermal packs that he was carrying. Sonic was reminded of the first day Shadow had showed up to his house and the dark male had almost said the same exact thing to him.

"Hey Shads, Rouge told me that you go all weird and super serious when you're working, and I get that, but could you at least say hi to me?"

The agent truly looked at Sonic for the first time since encountering him,

"Hello."

And with that Shadow was dashing from area to area setting timers. Sonic blinked in disbelief as to what just happened. The hero decided to get to work on his own set of bombs, thinking maybe if he got some work done Shadow would snap out of it.

They worked in unbearable silence, Shadow only speaking to the blue hog when he questioned if Sonic had placed a bomb in a certain area. The duo was almost done zipping around the whole facility when Sonic spoke to Shadow again,

"um seriously, I haven't seen or heard from you for days and this is how you act. I'm not asking you to flirt with me on the clock or nothing, just a simple, how have you been, would be nice."

Sonic didn't know if he was over reacting again, but he didn't care. Shadow's cold distant behavior was pissing him off.

"Are you mad at me?"

That's all it took and Shadow began to come back into touch with the real world. He knew he couldn't ignore Sonic forever.

"No," Shadow said emotionless, "But I do think we need to stop this."

Sonic looked around the room confused like he was trying to find the answer to a question, but only bits of machinery and boxes of spare robot parts filled the room.

"Stop what, setting the bombs?"

Shadow looked disgruntled, "No, you blue fool, you and me."

Sonic stared back at Shadow, "You're kidding right?"

"Faker, I don't kid." Shadow said stern holding his ground.

"Yes, you do, your funnier than heck when you want to be! Why are you pushing me away? What the hell is going on?"

Sonic looked like he was on the verge of tears but refused to let them fall.

"I think we should go our separate ways; the relationship is not fair on you."

Sonic felt his world that he had built up in such a short amount of time, that he had come to accept so quickly, begin to crumble.

"Why? How?" was all the blue hero could utter without braking.

"You are very similar to Maria. I believe that subconsciously, I was attempting to replace her with you. Which is not fair on you because obviously you are not her, and never will be."

The words came out almost monotoned form the dark male's mouth. Sonic ceased his potential break down and looked at Shadow with questioning eyes.

Suddenly something behind Shadow caught the hero's attention for a split second, but Sonic soon returned to his melt down.

"Fine! Be that way! How could you build me up, make promises to me, and then just take everything back!"

Sonic stepped forward and grabbed a Motobug head light from a nearby box,

"I don't need you! Who would want to be around someone like you anyway!"

Shadow was becoming more concerned; he had not expected Sonic to act like this; maybe he shouldn't had been so sudden and harsh, Shadow thought?

"That's okay! Go back to brooding by yourself!"

"I HATE YOU!!!"

Sonic took the head light and chucked it at Shadow's head. Shadow ducked on impulse causing the projectile to miss. However, from behind the agent, Shadow could hear the sound of something short circuiting. The dark hog turned to find the object that was thrown had not been meant for him in the first place. Sonic walked over and picked up the broken head light revealing a tiny smashed robot underneath.

"Another Spy Fly… Sonic you…"

"Sorry. Didn't want it to look like it got smashed on purpose this time. I don't know what's going on with G.U.N, but when you are ready to talk, I'm always here."

The blue hedgehog glanced to Shadow and winked.

The dark male was dumbfounded, "How?"

"We have already established that you're a terrible liar. Although you actually had me going until you mentioned Maria."

Sonic gave the spy equipment one last crunch with the bottom of his shoe,

"If you were replacing Maria with me, I don't think you would have allowed us to make out. I would hope that you didn't see Maria that way."

Shadow stared at Sonic in awe. He was truly something to behold, Shadow thought to himself. He was incredible, and the true incredible parts of himself he hardly showed. He had managed to fool Shadow once again, and Shadow was kind of into it.

"Sonic…"

The blue hog who was about to exit the room, turned to make eye contact with the striped one; his eyes half lidded in confidence,

"Hmm?"

Gods, Shadow thought, how is he so damn attractive right now?

"Are… I am… unsure of how dating works, but…are you considered my boyfriend?"

Sonic's eyes shot open to their usual intensity, and a blush started to make its way onto his muzzle,

"Do you want to be?"

Shadow's eye suddenly where half lid as well and a cheeky smirk appeared on his face,

"absolutely."

The pair finished setting the bombs; this time giving one another bashful looks when they passed by each other. The mission had surprisingly gone smoothly from then on. when the two where done they met the others at the rendezvous point after scouting the immediate area for civilians that might be too close to the explosion.

"And where have you been?" a red echidna said playfully.

He was covered in robot oil and grease and looked quite proud of himself. Omega Stood next to Knuckles and gave the ruby male a robotic thumbs up,

"YOU ARE QUITE SKILLED AT EGGMAN ROBOT DESTRUCTION. I AM IMPRESSED."

Knuckles returned the thumbs up and puffed his chest at the complement.

"You're not half bad yourself, you know, for an oversized tin can."

Rouge approached Knuckles.

"Well, aren't you two hitting it off," The bat leaned into the echidna and whispered in his ear, "You know, you can come over for a play date anytime."

Knuckles' face turned the same shade as his fur,

"You Crazy!!!"

The echidna's outburst was interrupted by Tails, not wanting to escalate things any further,

"Hey Sonic! We got the data."

"Cool! Did you find out where Egghead's base is?" Sonic chuckled at his friends.

Tails' Ears dropped,

"No… But we did find out where a few more of his factories are set up."

Sonic flashed a grin and came in to give his fox friend a fist bump,

"Sweet, I'd say that's a win."

Tails just childishly giggled and returned the gesture.

"I've given G.U.N the go ahead." Shadow said looking up from his Com Watch.

Knuckles turned confused,

"The go ahead for what?"

Suddenly a deafening explosion was heard off in the distance causing the echidna to Jump a foot off the ground.

"That," Shadow said amused giving the red male a mischievous grin.

Knuckles blinked slowly back at the striped hog, not expecting the playful tone. It was almost like he was broing around with them; a stark difference to his attitude before. Sonic burst into laughter,

"Shads, stop it your making Knuckles nervous."

"Hmm, I think your just jealous that I am picking on someone other than you." Shadow said turning to walk away.

Sonic sped around the dark male trying to make eye contact with him,

"As if. I'm just looking out for him, wouldn't want Knuckles to catch your lameness."

"Alright! could you two stop flirting with each other? I'd like to get back to the master emerald as soon as possible."

Knuckles interjected causing the Hedgehogs to shy away at the word choice. Knuckles looked back at the other three, all of which shifted their eyes and shrugged at the only person out of the loop.

"Was it something I said?"

Both teams went their separate ways. One boarded a helicopter while the other took the Tornado. Sonic saluted Shadow goodbye, and the dark hog responded with raising his hand and waving with only his fingers while giving the most comforting smile the hero had ever seen. Sonic's cheeky grin fell into bewilderment, transfixed on the air craft as it took off.

"Sonic boy, he is going to be the death of you." Sonic said to himself.

Back at G.U.N HQ, about two weeks had passed since Shadow had become Sonic's boyfriend. The typically grim Agent had a little bit more life to him, despite G.U.N nearly working him to death on back to back assignment. Luckily Rouge was given time off, so she could see to his house plants. The hog had not been home for the entire time however, every time he was supposed to go home he was approach and asked to stay over. He knew where the requests were really coming from and knew better than to refuse. He was exhausted even if the work wasn't always field work. The worst thing about the situation was that Shadow's pay was fixed, not by the hour, so it didn't matter how long he worked he literally got nothing from it. This day, the whole of team dark sat filing reports, well except for Omega, all he had to do was upload his video feed and send it in. he was mainly there to boost morale.

Topaz worked at a desk in the same room, while Towers looked over plans for another assignment. The silence was abruptly broken by a secretary cracking the door open and speaking nervously and a little put out, like she had just dealt with something exhausting,

"I'm sorry to bother you sir, but someone is requesting to see your agents."

Towers faced the woman in the door way and huffed,

"What! Absolutely not, anyone can't just come in here and do whatever they want."

The woman sighed,

"I told him that sir, he refused to listen."

The commanders eye began to twitch and a vain was becoming visible on his forehead.

"Well turn him away!"

the woman deadpanned,

"I tried that sir, its Sonic The Hedgehog, there's not much I can do."

Suddenly, the other door next to the secretary swung open revealing the blue menace himself,

"Oh, this is where they are, thanks Sandra!"

The secretary rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving Sonic in the presence of a less than pleased man. Sonic waltzed into the middle of the room, as if there wasn't a six-foot four trained military commander, ready to strangle him.

"Hedgehog, you better have a good reason for disrupting my agent when they are working. They work for the military, not some minimum wage job; you can't walk in here unannounced and expect to see them."

Sonic side eyed the man, then waved him away.

"Keep your pants on Commander T, and what I have to say is very important."

"Then out with it!"

"I'm going on holiday."

Towers wanted to rip his hair out. These talking rodents where going to drive him insane. Sonic continued to ignore the man who looked like a ticking time bomb.

"I've invited all my friends to a Freedom Day party and I've managed to land us a very special place to have it."

Sonic lifted his hands to his mouth as though he was playing an invisible trumpet.

"doo do da do! Angle Island."

The hedgehog finished with jazz hands. He looked out at the five individuals staring back at him in both in confusion and a hint of humor.

"Well what does that have to do with my agents!"

"Shadow, Rouge, and Omega are my friends too, so of course they are invited. I want them to have some time off so we can celebrate Freedom Day."

Shadow looked on at the scene before him. He now understood how crafty Sonic could actually be. What exactly was that hedgehog planning? Freedom Day? Shadow knew that it was a Mobian holiday, something about declaring independence from a tyrant or something like that. Shadow had never celebrated it, he never felt like he had the right, he knew nothing about Mobian history and was more integrated in human society. Shadow snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his commander say,

"Well I hate to disappoint you but I don't have any control over when my agents are assigned to work."

Suddenly the doors to the room swung open again reviling none other than Major Commander Crow, accompanied by three guards.

"What in the Sam hell is going on in here? I just got a report that there was a situation in the offices."

Sonic raised his hand like he was answering a question in class, and stared up at the towering man.

"Oh oh, yes that would be me. Sonic, Situation, the Hedgehog. You must be the big cheese I gotta talk to about getting time off for my pals here."

Crow remained calm, the only hint of irritation coming from the slight curl to his lip. The man might have power over many people, but Sonic was a special case. The hedgehog had far too much power among the masses. If crow was to start anything with the fastest thing alive or hurt one of his friends, all Sonic would have to do would be to go public with it and the world, humans and Mobians alike, would side with their hero. The best option for the man was to just give the hedgehog what he wanted, for now. Yes, Sonic was untouchable, and to crow that meant a threat.

"Time off?"

"Yeah, to celebrate Freedom Day. You will let your Mobian coworkers celebrate their independence, won't you?"

Sonic had crow right where he wanted him and crow hated it. The man put his hands behind his back and spoke in a sickly-sweet tone,

"I don't see that being a problem, G.U.N supports every culture."

Sonic saw his time to strike and snapped the trap.

"Great! I'd need them off by the twentieth. And let's say oh, I don't know… for a week. Yeah that sounds reasonable. Oh, and I know Omega isn't technically a Mobian, but he is one of my friends too, so I hope that you can make an exception. Also, before I forget I'm wanting this to be a private event so no cameras please."

Crow was taken aback by the last statement that exited Sonic's mouth, but the hedgehog just looked as cute and as unsuspecting as he could make himself. The man readjusted his posture,

"That seems… a bit excessive."

"I don't think so. Considering that fact that team dark works so hard and has been an incredible help to your cause. They deserve a break, especially Shadow wouldn't you agree."

With that crow knew he was trapped, and he despised it.

"Yes… I would agree. In fact, why don't you all take the rest of the night off while I sort out your schedules for the upcoming week."

The man and his guards turned and left the room without another word. Who ever was left after they where gone just stared at the blue hero in awe. Rouge was the first to speak,

"I can't believe you just did that."

Shadow walked over to Sonic with a small grin forming on his lips,

"Well, you heard the man. You two can stay here if you want, but I'm going home."

Sonic and Team Dark exited to the parking garage, and made their way to their respected vehicles. Rouge pressed a series of buttons on the back of Omega causing the robot to transform into a compact version of himself. The bat loaded her friend into her car and almost squealed when she noticed Sonic was already sitting on Shadow's bike. She watched Shadows face closely as he bantered back and forth with Sonic. He was happy, even without a smile, she could tell.

"Hey big blue, come back to the club with us and hang for a bit."

Both hedgehogs looked on at the bat who was a good five spaces away. Shadow looked embarrassed by his friend's offer to his boyfriend, but Sonic was unfazed.

"That sounds fun, sure! I'll get grumpy guts here to take me."

Sonic motioned to Shadow who was rolling his eyes and boarding the bike. Rouge smiled and got in her car, taking off a head of the boys. Sonic wrapped his arms around his companion and soon they were off as well. Shadow turned on the radio as they road. The songs blaring out capturing the dark hog in a sea of thoughts. Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. If Sonic had managed to defeat the man, he was afraid of not long ago, and so easily too, then maybe Crow wasn't a threat after all. Maybe Shadow had nothing to worry about. Maybe he wasn't stuck. Sonic had done it again, what the blue hedgehog does best, given people hope. For the first time it was given to Shadow, and he felt it in full. It was invigorating, refreshing, it made Shadow's world just a little bit brighter.

Soon they were parking in the garage by Club Rouge, taking notice that Omega and Rouge must already be inside. Shadow got off the bike and began to help Sonic. The blue hog didn't let him get to far however, as Sonic leaned forward and planted a short kiss on Shadow's lips.

"Thanks, but I've got this Shads."

Sonic winked at the stunned male and continued to dismount the vehicle. When he was completely off, he turned around only to be met with fiery irises.

"Thank you for saving me."

Sonic stared back at the other confused, but also bewildered by the sheer intensity and emotion in Shadow's eyes,

"From what?"

Shadow placed his own kiss on the top of Sonic's head,

"Everything."

Sonic blushed but then became impassive,

"Are you ever going to explain what's going on or what that means?"

Shadow cocked a brow and smiled,

"Probably not, I don't believe its important anymore."

Once inside, the hedgehogs found there way over to the bar where Rouge and Omega were waiting. The bat raised her hand reviling a drink,

"Come on Sonic pour yourself a drink it's on the house. Let's have a toast to blue knocking the big bad boss down a peg."

Sonic grinned and rubbed underneath his nose with his finger,

"Aww, it was no biggy."

"No biggy? You just put the head honcho of G.U.N in his place. Not to mention landed all of us a vacation," Rouge sipped from her glass and then grimaced, "That man had been picking on Shadow none stop to for some reason. Hadn't let the poor guy go home for weeks."

Sonic frowned at the bats words and turned to the male in question,

"is that true?"

Shadow glared at his friend but soon softened back up to answer Sonic's query,

"More or less nothing I couldn't handle. Besides you shouldn't worry yourself with that."

"Of course, I'm going to worry, you keeping me in the dark is making me worry more," Sonic said with a huff, "If someone's bullying you, I need to know about it."

Shadow chuckled under his breath,

"Sonic you're not my mother, I don't have one of those remember, and I believe I'm more than capable in handling the kids on the playground."

The couple finally realized they were being watched. Across the bar Rouge was having the worst time trying to keep her excitement to herself.

"You two are so stinking cute!"

Both hogs blushed and turned from each other. There was a brief moment of silence before it was interrupted by the sound of the club doors opening.

"Oh sorry, were closed. Come back at nine, we're having a special on Jell-O shots."

Everyone sitting at the bar turned around when they did not receive an answer from the intruder. Standing in the door silhouetted by the light of the setting sun behind her, was Amy Rose. The shadows hid her face but the aura she gave off was intense.

She was pissed.

"Sonic The Hedgehog!!!"

Sonic stood from his seat and prayed his death was quick.

"I can not believe you. Rouge!? Are you dating Rouge!? That's, uh, I mean whatever. If you want to date someone that's fine, just don't lie to me about it, and Rouge really?"

The bat was about to be offended until Amy continued.

"You, like, know Knuckles has a thing for her. How could you do that to a good friend, you should be ashamed."

Sonic looked back at Rouge, who was still in shock over the information that had just been slipped to her, and them back to the pink girl.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, I know someone had spent the night at your house, that one day I came over, I know that you used the strawberries I bought you to make who ever it was breakfast, and you have been visiting Central City a whole bunch lately."

Sonic was slightly concerned with how Amy knew that last part.

"And now I see you visit gun and head home with Rouge after her shift. It's pretty easy to connect the dots."

"Amy, I'm not dating rouge, your right I wouldn't do that to Knux."

Amy stomped her foot and had tears in her eyes,

"Don't lie to me again, if you're not dating her than who?!"

Sonic was losing his patience with the nosey girl. He didn't want to be forced to tell Amy about him and Shadow. His relationship status was honestly none of her business.

"Your right I am dating someone, but you know what? I don't have to tell you anything. you seem to care so much about who it is, even though you said you didn't care if I date."

Amy stared back a Sonic's harsh tone and the tears began to fall. The hedgehog felt the guilt in his stomach grow.

"I don't care that you date someone as long as you're honest with me, I know that sound selfish and entitled," the young girl sobbed, "but you know how I feel about you."

Sonic stood at a loss for what to do. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Shadow giving him a nod.

"Amy. I'm not dating Rouge, I'm dating… Shadow."

Sonic felt strange saying it out loud to someone else. Amy stopped crying and looked up at Sonic then to the dark hog beside him still with a hand on Sonic's shoulder. Shadow gave the girl her own nod, confirming what was said to be true.

"oh… OH. Sonic I'm… sorry I…it still doesn't change the fact you…that might be even worse."

Suddenly Amy was out the door with tears streaming down her face, and a distressed blue hog yelling after her. Sonic ran to the door to catch her but was stopped by Shadow calling his name. Sonic turned around and was tossed a garage door opener. Shadow looked serious,

"Go talk to her."

Sonic effortlessly caught up to the running girl and grabbed her arm.

"let me go Sonic, I messed up okay let's leave it at that."

She was usually very strong and a could easily keep up with boys when it came to power, but right now in the emotional state she was in Amy couldn't even lift her hammer, let alone fight back.

"Let me talk to ya, Ames. Come on let's head somewhere private and talk it out."

Amy gave up and aloud herself to be dragged to the garage in the opposite direction. Once inside Amy shrugged Sonic away, which was a first for the pink one.

"Amy let me explain."

"No Sonic there is nothing to explain," the girl interjected, "I'm sorry I made you say that in front of everyone, I'm sorry I was jealous, but why did you never tell me you where gay? You knew how I felt about you ever since I was a kid. You knew I chased after you trying to be your girlfriend and only now, I find out that it was never a possibility to begin with."

"To be honest, I've known you for so long I figured out my sexuality way after we met. I guess that doesn't make things any better either, huh?"

Amy glanced at Sonic from the corner of her eye unamused.

"Amy, I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry."

Sonic…I'm mad that you lied, yes. But I'm more upset that you have gone so long hiding this. I mean keeping something like that a secret from your friends has to be exhausting. You couldn't have been truly happy."

Sonic blinked at Amy slowly, not expecting that response to come from the pink female's mouth.

"And I'm upset with myself that I made you think that you couldn't tell me, so I've been chasing after a guy that will never want anything to do with me…you don't like girls at all right?"

Amy looked hopeful for a split second before she was shot down yet again by Sonic shaking his head.

"Afraid not. And don't be mad at yourself, I should have just told you. I put it off and put it off for so long. I mean if it makes you feel any better, for the longest time Tails was the only one that knew," Sonic laughed a bit, "and Knuckles still doesn't know."

Amy smiled,

"You know that it's going to take me a long time to get over this, right?"

"I would imagine", Sonic cringed

"That's not to say I don't support you and Shadow, I mean it was unexpected and a little weird but…," Amy looked off to the side a little guilty, "While I was…investigating, I noticed that you have been smiling, a real smile, a lot more these past few weeks. I'm guessing you want to keep this a secret still, huh?"

A real smile? Sonic thought. Amy rally could read him like a book. It was kind of scary almost. Sonic smiled at Amy softly and shook his head.

"Yeah, at least for as long as I can," Sonic pulled Amy into a hug of his own, "You know, you've really grown up Ames. Thanks for being my friend and I'm sorry about the strawberry thing by the way. That was kind of crappy of me, I guess I just wasn't thinking."

Amy looked up at her blue hero,

"Yeah, that kind of happens when you're in love."


	10. Sparks Fly

I usually upload on Monday, but I finished this chapter early so here you go. The next chapter will probably be out on either Tuesday or Wednesday. the next chapter in excited/nervous about, because it's going to include a mature seen and I've never written anything like that before. hopefully its good and i'm not embarrassing myself. . LOL, hope everyone enjoys it because soon the fun will have to end. (insert ominous laughing here) feed back is much appreciated.

…

Ch.10 Sparks Fly

Sonic:

Hey! That crow guy fallowed up on your time off, right?

Shadz:

Yes. As of tomorrow, I will be off. When do I need to be ready to go to Angel Island?

Sonic:

Not for a few days.

Shadz:

But you told Crow the 20th, and for a week. We are not leaving straight away?

Sonic:

Ha Ha! No dude, we are only celebrating one day, but he didn't need to know that. I just told that guy that to give you a break, and so I could see you more. 😊

Sonic:

Besides I think Knuckles would lose his marbles if we were there for more than one day.

Shadz:

Sonic, you are incredible. But I have to ask, how did you get that red buffoon to allow all of us on to Angle Island, especially Rouge?

Sonic:

I try and be nice. Knux isn't that bad. I convinced Knux to let us party there by telling him that this was the best way for him to join in and keep an eye on the master emerald. We just have to be respectful of the shrines and holy grounds.

Sonic:

Oh, and he may or may not be aware that I invited Rouge. LOL it cool though. You heard Amy, he's into Rouge.

Shadz:

Yes. Rouge has been talking non stop about the matter for days.

Sonic:

Well don't you talk non stop about me to her?

Shadz:

I apologize Sonic, should I? I don't normally vocalize my affections, but I will have you know you are consistently in my thoughts.

Sonic:

Woah, Shads! I was just messing with ya. That got a little deeper than expected. But yeah same.

Sonic:

Gods, look what you've done now I'm all blushing. I'm in the middle of the store you can't do this to me dude.

Shadz:

Well good. That seems like a suitable punishment for trying to "mess" with me. 😉

Sonic:

Hey! Nice use of an emoji.

Shadz:

Thank you.

Sonic:

Hey, I gotta go. I'm being yelled at by a fox. Talk to ya later.

Shadz:

Good bye.

Sonic looked up from his phone, still smiling like a mad man, to find his friend was giving him the glare of death.

"Huh? What Tails?"

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"

The young boy twitched his twin tails back and forth expressing his annoyance with his best friend. Tails sighed and lifted a piece of paper in his hand,

"Just keep track of what's on the list for me. Honestly this is your party and I'm doing all the planning and prep."

Sonic dropped his ears in guilt, sending the fox puppy dog eyes,

"I'm sorry bud, I've just… I don't know what's wrong with my brain lately."

"I know what wrong with it." Tails smart mouthed under his breath.

Sonic snorted in laughter at his sassy little buddy. Sonic loved it when Tails would gain some confidence and tell it like it is. It was quite humorous when the usually polite young Mobian would get snarky with people out of nowhere.

Tails shook his head and giggled as well,

"No. I understand dude; your body is releasing hormones that are affecting your perception. Right now, Oxytocin is running through your blood stream, causing you to bond with Shadow with every good experience you have with him, associating those experiences with the euphoric feeling you get from the chemical. Most likely your testosterone is off the charts as well, given this is your first real relationship with someone you are sexually attracted to. Your body is probably prepping you to conceive so you may have offspring also, but of course it doesn't know that that's not a possibility."

Sonic held up his hand and looked uncomfortable,

"Stop! Don't go any further with that."

The hedgehog placed a hand on his forehead and the other on his hip,

"Gods Tails. And here I was wondering why you're not a hit with the ladies. Or whoever you're into."

"That's cool. I don't think I want a relationship anyway."

"That's perfectly fine pal. Just stop analyzing my inner-workings please."

Tails giggled again,

"Aww, but it's so interesting."

A day had passed and Sonic was antsy. He wanted to give Shadow his space but at the same time he was compelled to be with him. The hedgehog knew he was supposed to be off of work yesterday, but Sonic also knew his boyfriend was most likely sleep deprived if he had worked no stop.

The clock on his stove read (7:18 PM)

The blue hero had waited all day to hear something from Shadow, not that he was expecting a text, just that it would set Sonic's nerves at ease. Maybe I could text him now and see what he is up to, Sonic thought, that should be okay.

Sonic:

Hey Shads, just checking up on ya. If you're busy right now that's cool, no big deal.

Sonic waited an excruciating five minutes for a reply, but got none. Sonic would have usually thought nothing of it, except for the fact he was the only person Shadow texted, and the dark hog usually responded immediately. No, I'm just being obsessive, Sonic internalized, leave him alone; don't be annoying. Sonic tapped his foot as he stared at his phone waiting another five minutes. He was starting to sweat. Maybe he didn't hear it, Sonic thought as his anxiety level rose.

Sonic:

Hey?

Sonic sent the next message but then kicked himself for it. He was being obsessive, and he didn't know why. Well the hero had a hunch why, but didn't want to psycho analyze himself right now. He was acting like Amy when she was a kid. He needed to calm down and get a grip.

The thought of Amy reminded him of what the girl had said.

"_Yeah, that kind of happen when you're in love."_

Was he in love with Shadow? Sonic knew he liked Shadow a lot and cared about him, but love? The concept was new territory for the blue hog; his entire life he had never had much experience with the subject matter. He wondered for a moment if Shadow could one day feel that for him.

Sonic looked up at the time again. Almost twenty minutes had passed since he sent the last text. The hog couldn't take it anymore, what if something had happened, what if Shadow was in trouble, what if he was hurt somewhere? That's what he told himself, but really, he just desperately wanted to see his boyfriend. Out of the corner of his eye, Sonic saw the green tinted sun glasses, that Shadow had left at his house on there first date, laying on the counter. The hedgehog had his excuse.

"It's about time I return these to Shadow anyway."

Within minutes Sonic was at the doors of Club Rouge. The doors where locked and the owner seemed to be nowhere in sight. I should probably ask for Rouge's number, Sonic thought. The crafty hog pulled out one of his stiffer quills and made sure the coast was clear out of instinct. Sonic picked the lock to the door with ease and stepped inside, re-locking the door behind him. He made his way over to the pent house elevator but was startled by the sound of mechanical parts coming to life.

"INTRUDER ALERT, STATE YOUR BUSINESS OR FACE ANNIHILATION!"

Sonic was now face to face with an arm cannon attached to the hulking robot he knew as Omega. Sonic figured he must have woken the robot up from sleep mode.

"Chill Omega, It's me Sonic. I just came to see Shadow."

The mechanical man stayed locked on to the hog,

"IDENTIFICATION, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, CLASSIFICATION, ALLIE, RESENT UPDATE, FRIEND."

Omega lowered his weapon. Sonic thought about what he had said when he convinced G.U.N to allow Team Dark vacation time. Sonic had referred to Omega as his friend and the robot must have taken that to his mechanical heart. The hero smiled at the thought.

"Hey big guy, which button do I press to get to Shadow's room?"

"TOP FLOOR, ROOF TOP. THERE IS A GREEN DOOR THAT LEADS TO THE LOFT ABOVE THE PENT HOUSE."

"Thanks" Sonic said as he turned back to the elevator but was stopped yet again by the booming voice.

"SONIC."

"Hmm."

"SHADOW IS THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM ERGO, HE IS INCREDIBLY STRONG AND POWERFUL, BUT HIS PERSONAL LIFE IS NOT EASY. SHADOW IS ALSO EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE AND DOES NOT USUALLY TRUST INDIVIDUALS. SHADOW TRUSTS YOU, SO I TRUST YOU. WITH THAT ESTABLISHED, IF YOU BRING HARM TO SHADOW IN ANY WAY CONCEIVABLE, I WILL ELIMINATE YOU.

The color left Sonic's face at the last statement. Sonic could see now that Omega wasn't just a robot, he was family.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sonic found the green door Omega had mentioned and reconsidered his actions. Was he being a crazy clingy boyfriend? He hadn't really got to see Shadow in weeks, but what if his boyfriend is annoyed and Sonic drives him away. The hog glanced around at his surroundings and sighed. He was already here might as well see if he is okay. Shadow still hadn't answered his text from earlier and the more time passed the more nervous Sonic got. Sonic knocked on the door but received no answer. The panic started to set in as the hedgehog began repeatedly knocking on the door every few minutes.

Suddenly, the door open and Sonic was presented with a strange sight. There stood Shadow, wearing a red and grey T-shirt that was twisted around his body and hanging off his shoulder. He didn't have his gloves or hover shoes on, just his black socks. His quills where messy and sticking out in all directions. His fur was just as disheveled and his eyes looked glazed over and half lidded, like he had just woken up.

"Umm… Sonic? What are you doing here? Not that I'm upset." The dark hog yawned.

"Uh, well… I came to… uh, return these to you," Sonic held the sun glasses out in his hand, "I didn't mean to wake you up, but you didn't answer your phone and I got worried, I know that's stupid and I should have just let you rest. Now I feel guilty, I'm really sorry, I hope I'm not being to clingy or annoying you."

Shadow listened to his distressed boyfriend ramble and smirked,

"Sonic your perfectly fine, if you where to intrude on my personal boundaries, trust me I'd tell you."

Shadow glanced down at his shoulder which was exposed by the twisted shirt and realized what he looked like. He quickly attempted to fix himself by rubbing his face and running his hands through his quills.

"What time is it anyway?" the dark hero asked attempting to recollect himself.

"Um, like seven thirty."

"In the morning?"

"No. In the afternoon, how long have you been asleep?"

Shadow rubbed the back of his head and turned his body trying to pop his tensed-up spine,

"What time did we finish texting yesterday?"

Sonic made a face of amusement and wonder at the thought of how someone could sleep that long. Yes, Sonic liked naps, but this was ridiculous, then again maybe Shadow literally hadn't slept in weeks.

"Anyway, please, come in." Shadow said realizing he had been rude, just standing in the door way, blocking Sonic from entering his home.

The blue hog entered the tiny apartment and was floored by all of the beautiful plants that hung from the ceiling and the ones that were seated in pots on the ground. He looked up and noticed that the ceiling had a large sky light and one of the walls was mostly all window, allowing the natural sun light to enter the room. The window looked out to an incredible view of the city that stretch all the way to Emerald Coast. The plain white walls and modern style room was offset by the lush greenery and splashes of color from the occasional flowering plant.

"This place is really pretty… I mean its nice. Manly."

Shadow chuckled at Sonic,

"Thank you, I have a thing for botany; I find this planets plant life fascinating."

Sonic laid the sun glasses that where still in his hand down on the counter in the kitchenette.

"Huh…well I guess I better go then, sorry again for intruding."

Shadow approached the other hog,

"I told you, your fine. And your already here might so as well stay, besides… I missed you."

Shadow graced Sonic with one of his true smiles that melted hearts,

"We will call it our second official date."

"Okay," the blue hog said dumbly.

Shadow pressed his lips to Sonic's and they melted together. Sonic put his hands in Shadows mess of quills and leaned close. Even thought Shadow had made the first move it was obvious that Sonic was still more confident when it came to this stuff. They both pulled away and the blue hog grinned,

"Your breath stinks."

Shadow went wide eyed and quickly covered his mouth with his hand. The embarrassed male promptly walked to his bathroom leaving a snickering Sonic behind.

Once Shadow had brushed his teeth and fixed himself, he rejoined Sonic in his living area. Sonic was inspecting the plants and wondering around the cute tiny home stopping once he noticed Shadows book collection that laid neatly on a small self. Sonic read every title, as Shadow spoke up,

"I told you I don't have anything like adventure stories that you would like."

"It's cool. Actually, this one looks pretty interesting."

Sonic pulled a book from the shelf that read, _A New Frontier: The History of Space Exploration._ Shadow looked the hedgehog up and down,

"You are a book worm, aren't you?"

"If that's what you want to call it," Sonic said flipping through the pages, "It's just, ever since Tails taught me how to read, its been one of my favorite things."

Sonic realized what he had said too late, and looked up from the book to meet Shadow's eyes. The dark hog looked confused,

"What do you mean?"

Sonic groaned, he hadn't wanted to delve into his past with Shadow, at least not yet. Honestly Sonic wished he could forget that he had a childhood to begin with. It was only fair, Sonic thought, I know so much about his past and he had no choice in the matter.

"You see; and what I'm about to say doesn't leave us," Sonic pointed a finger at the dark one who nodded in return, "me and Tails where kind of orphans. I found Tails when I was thirteen and he was six. I couldn't read or wright, but Tails was already a child genius and taught me himself. I figured out reading could be really fun; Tails was even impressed that I picked it up so quickly."

Shadow felt honored that Sonic felt comfortable enough with him tell him something so personal. The hog still had questions but decided to let Sonic give out the information at his own pace.

"Well that's because you are naturally intelligent." Shadow said as though it was an obvious fact.

Sonic blushed. No one had ever complemented him on his intelligence before, the male had always thought he was just average at best when it came to brain power. Shadow looked around the room,

"I just realized that I do not own a television or any means of entertaining you."

Sonic smiled thankful that the subject of his past had been dropped,

"We can play cards or somethin' if you got a deck, as long as I'm with you I don't mind."

Now, Shadow's face was heating up,

"That can be arranged, also are you hungry? I think I might order some food."

The pair sat on the floor much like they had on their first date. They seated themselves in front of the huge window facing the city watching the sun set as they munched on takeout. They ate in silence but it wasn't awkward, in fact it was quite pleasant, as they beheld the splendid landscape before them. After the meal, they played a few rounds of go fish. Sonic argued with Shadow, claiming that the ultimate life form had some kind of secret super ability that was allowing him to win. Shadow of course had nothing of the sort, but playfully neither confirmed nor denied it to the hero.

After that, the duo stayed up until one o'clock in the morning talking, telling stories, and playing silly games. One of the games in particular, Shadow would sit with his hands out while Sonic tried to slap them before the striped male could pull away. It was a test of reflexes and both heroes where evenly matched. Both the males where getting way to into the childish game, giving a loud shout of victory when ever one would succeed in slapping the other. In all the excitement Sonic almost overlooked the fact that Shadow's hands where bare. The blue male marveled at the paws. Shadow had black claws that where much larger than Sonic's own brown ones. The dark male also had paw pads of the same color, except the one on his ring figure. The red stripe that traveled down Shadow's arm ended at said figure, causing the small pads on the digits to be a soft pink. Sonic wanted so desperately for those hands to touch him in that moment. The sapphire hero's face was beginning to warm up, he was embarrassed with his own thoughts and shook his head.

"That must be your soft spot." Sonic said smiling and pointing to the oddity.

Shadow paused to figure out what Sonic was referring to. When he noticed his hand he frowned,

"I'm not soft, I'm hard as a rock."

Sonic wanted to scream at his own perverted mind. How could Shadow use such word choice without realizing how it sounded. Sonic wondered why he was so bothered by it all of a sudden and wished for a distraction.

"Welp I'm tired. I think I'm going to head back home." Sonic yawned out.

"Oh, are you not spending the night like I did last time."

Sonic would have typically been happy with this but given his recent thoughts, sharing a bed with Shadow was giving him anxiety.

"I mean… if you want me to."

Shadow reached out and grabbed Sonic's hand. He pressed a small kiss on the fawn cheek and pulled away showing a gentle smile,

"Of course."

Sonic wanted to punch the male in his stupid sexy face.

Sonic took off his shoes and his dirty gloves and laid them on the floor. The blue hog sat on Shadow's futon, waiting for his boyfriend to return from the bathroom. When the dark male reappeared, Sonic almost had a heart attack. Shadow was essentially, completely naked. He had removed his shirt and socks, most likely due to the fact they where sweaty and gross, because he had slept in them for a day and a half. Sonic didn't know why he was making such a big deal out of it, the only difference in attire between the two where Sonic's socks; which he probably needed to discard as well. Shadow looked nervous for a moment,

"Do you mind if I take a shower really quick, I'm kind of disgusting."

Sonic nodded giving his companion the go ahead, but internally wanted to die.

That night was rough on the blue hero. Shadow managed somehow to fall asleep again rather quickly, but Sonic was trapped in his on perverse mind. The hog felt Shadow's breath on the back of his neck as they spooned, and bit his lip. The sexual tension was strong and Sonic was the only one experiencing it. why was his mind so curious for the other in that way all of a sudden? Sonic didn't want that for Shadow; he didn't want to pressure him into something he wasn't ready for, and Sonic wasn't sure he was entirely ready either.

It was finally time for the Freedom Day celebration and every member of Sonic's friend group, young and old, where told to meet on Angel Island. Tails had offered to fly anyone who needed a lift to the island in the x tornado. Everyone was there, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Amy, Rouge, Omega, Knuckles, Tails, Cream, and even Cream's mom, Vanilla. Obviously, Sonic had to show up fashionably late to his own party, using Shadow's Chaos control of course.

The sand out skirts of the island was set up with tables and chairs. lights had been strung up to tall tiki torches, and in the middle of it all was a fire pit in the sand. The sun was setting and from a distance the hedgehogs could hear the yells of an angered echidna, surprised to see a certain thief on his island. Shadow was visibly becoming nervous and Sonic took notice. The blue hog turned around facing Shadow as the two where concealed from the other party guest by a tropical foliage. Sonic grabbed Shadows shoulders and stretched his neck out to look over them, searching for something.

"Sonic? What are you…"

The hero pulled away still holding onto his boyfriend and smiled,

"Just checking for unwanted eyes."

The hog leaned in and placed a sneaky kiss on the dark one's nose,

"There's no need to be nervous, you know everyone here. You got this."

Shadow nodded still a little unsure of himself, but believed that Sonic wouldn't steer him wrong. They finally emerged from their hiding spot and caught the attention of a small rabbit child accompanied by a smaller blue chao flying around her head. The girl released her mother's hand and bounded toward the pair.

"Hello mister Sonic, thank you for inviting my mother and I to your party." The rabbit said in a kind, polite voice.

"Hey Cream! No problem. You know I love having you around, and you and your mom make the best pie."

Cream smiled and nodded in response. The little girl then took notice of the domineering looking presence behind the blue hero. The rabbit was almost frightened by the stony face until she realized who it belonged to.

"Mister Shadow! You're here too?"

The dark hog was prepared for the girl to question why he was invited in the first place, but that didn't come to be.

"I haven't seen you in a long time. I never got to thank you for helping me escape from that spooky castle and helping me to find Cheese." The chao next the girl gave the hog a happy babble.

Shadow was stunned. He hadn't really ever interacted with the girl apart from saving her during the black arms invasion, he hardly recalled the event, but she sure seemed to know him. On top of that she was exited to see him. A strange feeling bubbled inside Shadow's chest.

"You're welcome." Shadow's eyes were tender and his voice was quiet and smooth. He had a hint of a smile that was beginning to form on his muzzle as he looked down at the child.

Shadow had known ever since he knew Maria, that he did in fact have some natural instincts. One of which came from his black arms DNA and the other most likely from his Mobian DNA. The killer instinct; and the protective paternal instinct. Both conflicting forces, but what could he say, he was a complicated guy. Right now, the sweet and innocent nature of the rabbit child was sending his instincts into over drive. He felt the need to keep an eye on Cream; make sure someone responsible was looking after her. And if anyone where to attempt to harm her of tarnish her innocence, then he would commit a murder.

"You've never had one of mother's deserts, have you mister Shadow? Do you like pie?"

Shadow smiled a nonthreatening toothy grin,

"I love pie."

The rest of Freedom Day went over with out a hitch. Sonic chatted it up with all his friends, while Shadow kept a respectful distance from the crowd, only making small talk here and there. The party had just finished off with fireworks; Shadow had watched them with Sonic secretly holding each other's hands. All were about to pack up and head home, when Vector trudged back onto the open sand where they had been shooting the fireworks.

"We missed one guys, don't want it to go to waist."

Knuckles turned back to see what the crocodile had meant,

"No Vector! That one's messed up." Knuckles yelled trying to warn the croc, but was too late, Vector had already lit the fuse.

The firework whizzed to life and everyone ducked for cover. It shot into the air about a foot off the ground but then changed directions and went straight for the party. The speeding ball of flames was coming directly for Cream's head. She was frozen as she watched it, then closed her eyes, but it never came. The girl opened her eyes back up to see the hot projectile had been caught inches from her face, and the unlikely hero of this story was non other than Shadow the Hedgehog. The dark hog was still holding the rogue firework not looking at the rabbit, and tossed it as far as he could, causing it to fall off the island and into the ocean below. Cream stared at Shadow in wonder, but became concerned when she noticed his hand had been burned through his glove.

"Mister Shadow, are you all right? Your hand…"

"I'll be fine no, need to worry," he shook his hand off to prove his point to the child and grinned, "I heal very fast, this will be gone in an hour."

At this point Shadow became aware that he had an audience. Everyone was staring at Shadow's odd behavior; well it was odd to them. The dark hog grimaced at all the attention and turned away,

"Just… remember to stay out of trouble, alright." Shadow said halfheartedly to the rabbit.

Shadow caught Sonic's eye, and glanced at the hero who was looking at him rather strange. It wasn't a bad look, it was more of an entranced, captivated look. The dark hero felt his pride swell, loving the feeling of Sonic's eyes on him. Shadow decided to have a bit of fun, and try his hand at flirting. He winked at Sonic and flashed him a smile much like the blue one often did. But Sonic was no longer blue he was a deep crimson red.


	11. IWantToGiveYouEveryPartOfMe

Here it is!

WARNING: Sexual content

WARNING: Hints at child abuse

WARNING: Head cannons ahead

If you don't agree with or like my head cannons for game Sonic's back story that is perfectly fine, that's why they are head cannons, not cannon. Everyone has their own speculations and opinions for how the blue blur came to be, and it is fun to come up with your own. This is just how I see things happened in this universe. Thanks for the support! Now, let's get on with it already.

…

Ch. 11 I Want to Give You Every Part of Me

Everyone left Angle Island and returned to their homes. Sonic traveled back to his house with Shadow using Chaos control. Once the two appeared outside Sonic's door, Sonic leaned in giving Shadow a kiss on the lips,

"That was really cool what you did today." Sonic said with a little unintentional sultriness to his voice.

"What was I supposed to do, let a little girl have fire thrown in her face?"

"Well, I guess not. But it was still cool."

They both stood awkwardly waiting for the other to say something, but neither did. There was something undefined in the air between the two and they felt it intensify with every passing moment. Suddenly Shadow broke the silence with a fake cough,

"Well I best be going; Rouge will be wondering where I am."

"Y-yeah, see you later," Sonic smiled nervously unsure of why he felt so weird, "Text me, kay?"

The dark male nodded and was gone. Sonic didn't know why but he felt disappointed. All he knew was that he didn't want Shadow to leave.

That night Sonic laid in his bed texting his boyfriend. It was one o'clock in the morning but he could not sleep. He was wearing a pair of fire engine red pajama pants with a matching collared button up shirt. The material was silky and there where dark streaks on it from where Sonic's tears had hit the shirt and rolled down. He was so embarrassed to be acting like this. Sonic felt like a teenage girl, full of emotions he couldn't control or understand. His heart hurt, he wanted Shadow with him; no, he wanted Shadow in every way.

Sonic:

I like you a lot.

Shadster:

This is the 3rd time you've texted me that, and like I said before, the feeling is mutual.

Sonic:

Sorry, I just don't have anything to talk about.

Shadster:

Not that I mind, but then why did you want to text?

Sonic:

I just miss you.

Shadster:

I saw you earlier tonight, remember?

Sonic:

I know.

Sonic:

Sorry.

Shadow felt like something was wrong. Sonic never acted like this. The dark hog pressed the call button and held his phone to his face. Meanwhile, Sonic was still holding his phone out in front of himself, expecting another text when his ring tone went off. The crying hero quickly attempted to wipe his face as if someone could see him.

"Hello?" A week voice came over the receiver.

"Sonic? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Shads." Sonic could feel the flood gates opening; why did Shadow have to ask him that.

"You sound horse, have you been crying?"

That was it, the dam burst. Sonic sobbed silently to himself holding the phone away so Shadow couldn't hear the extent of his break down. The concerned male on the other end only heard sniffles for a moment,

"I just... think I'm lonely. I just wish you were here."

"Sonic... I think you're not telling me something."

Sonic finally aloud Shadow to hear him sob as he spoke,

"I don't know w-what's wrong with me, I just really want you; I n-need you."

Shadow's eye went wide and he hung up the phone.

"...Shadow?"

Suddenly a blinding flash of light filled the dark room but was over in a second and the area was plunged back into darkness. Sonic's face was only illuminated by the dim light of his phone. The tear stained hog stared out into the void then covered his face remembering that Shadow had told him at one point about his night vision,

"Shadow, I know you're there, just go back home."

Sonic could see only a tiny glint of red eyes between his fingers in the inky black of the night, as the rest of his boyfriend's dark body was camouflaged. The outline of Shadow's body came into view as he carefully approached the bed. Sonic stared entranced by what he was seeing. The form of what seemed to be a monster in the shadows emerging, climbing onto his bed, and Sonic's heart was racing. The blue hog was not afraid however, he was excited. Sonic put his phone on the side table as he came face to face with the beast forgetting about hiding his wet eyes. The creature before him reached a claw out and wiped away a tear,

"Do you want to talk about it?" the familiar deep voice whispered in the dark.

"No…not yet." Sonic whispered back as if he would wake someone if he spoke any louder.

Shadow was currently on all fours, wearing only a pair of black sweat pants. He reached for Sonic's hand and rubbed the bare, fawn knuckles with his thumb,

"I'm here for you when you're ready." Shadow said, repeating something Sonic had said to him before.

The blue hero gazed at the dark face and breathed in, heart pounding in his chest,

"I'm ready now…"

Shadow cocked a brow in confusion,

"But you just said…"

"Not that… Sorry forget I said anything"

"No, tell me." Shadow insisted.

Sonic looked like he was about to cry again,

"I want…y-you, you know," Sonic made a motion with is head as if to signal his words true meaning, But I don't want to put anything on you that you're not ready for."

Shadow's face was ablaze,

"Sonic… I think I want to try… if that's what you want. Besides Rouge has shown me how to…research the matter, I'm not an expert by no means, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about you…in that way."

Sonic blinked, wishing he could fully see his boyfriend's face. Pure emotion stared to fill his throat as he spoke, losing control of himself,

"I d-don't want t-to go all the way," Sonic almost whimpered out his next statement, "I just want you to touch me."

Something within both the hedgehogs snapped as they crashed their lips against each other. It was emotional and rough. They pulled away and Shadow began quickly sliding off his pants, while Sonic frantically fumbled with his shirt buttons. Sonic finished with the last button when Shadow was on him again, allowing his instincts to take control, as they made out once more. The striped male was like a wild animal, biting and tugging on the blue one's lip. He pulled away only for a moment,

"Keep the shirt on, I kind of like it." Shadow growled.

Sonic let a small moan slip from his mouth as his lover kissed his neck. Shadow continued to work on Sonic's neck and chest area, as the blue male reached down between his companion's legs. He rubbed the fur of the place which was already swollen, receiving a deep groan from Shadow. The dark hog pulled away in surprise and looked down at himself then back to Sonic,

"That feels so much different when you do it, then when I do it to myself."

Sonic had been frightened for a moment thinking he had gone too far, and that Shadow had not really understood what was happening,

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Absolutely not."

Sonic was relived, one because he hadn't hurt Shadow; two because the thought of Shadow masturbating was driving him crazy, and he no desire to stop now. Shadow held onto Sonic's hips while he nipped at the hero's neck and made his way up to his ear. Sonic continued to stroke Shadow's crotch ushering out the internal member that was now peeking through thick black fur. Sonic rubbed the exposed tip and Shadow lurched forward gripping the blue male's hips hard, involuntarily digging his claws in. Sonic gasped, and Shadow retracted,

"Sorry."

"No don't worry about it," Sonic said dazed by his arousal, "You good."

Sonic was laying fully on his back now, and Shadow noticed the tent that had formed within the silky red pants Sonic was still sporting. Shadow grabbed the sides of the garment and gave a sharp tug quickly exposing the sapphire hedgehog's own member. Shadow had never seen another Mobians penis before, well not in real life. It was about as large as his own but Shadow's was a quite a bit thicker. Sonic noticed the lack of action from the other and looked up from what he had been playing with,

"Are you just going to stare at it or are you going to do something about it?" Sonic panted out needily.

Shadow felt his body heat up even more at Sonic's words. He looked down to his lover's face and took in the whole scene. Sonic was on his back pressed against the bed, his quills a mess and some raised in excitement. He was breathing heavily and his eyes where half lid staring up at Shadow, in what the dark male could only assume to be lust.

"Is it alright if I say your beautiful?" Shadows voice melted in Sonics ears like butter.

Sonic was caught off guard but nodded anyway,

"You're so sexy."

With that, Shadow growled and began to stoke Sonic, maybe a little too eagerly. The other hog didn't say anything though, understanding that it was Shadows first sexual encounter and he was going to make a few mistakes. The blue hedgehog suddenly sat up,

"Stand up." Sonic commanded.

Shadow did as he was told and got off the bed. Sonic did the same and felt around the wall next to the door for the light switch. Once the lights were on, Sonic was able to finally get a good look at his lovers naked form, and he wasn't disappointed. Shadow stood there next to the bed facing Sonic who was still only wearing his unbuttoned night shirt that had slipped off his shoulder in all the action. The blue male's body was thin and his frame had a slight curve to it. Shadow almost audibly gulped as Sonic's exposed body approached him. The blue hero kissed Shadow's lips, then his neck, then his chest, then his stomach feeling the ab muscles underneath. He trailed all the way down, getting on his knees. Once Sonic was faced with Shadows erection he looked up and made eye contact with the other as he kissed the tip.

"W-what are you doing?" Shadow asked nervously.

"I'm gonna give you a blow job. Is that okay?"

Shadow nodded his head still unfamiliar with the term but could only assume his boyfriend's next move. Sonic opened his mouth and started to take in the organ. Slowly he eased Shadow into it. The excited male moaned, deep and loud into the air. The sensation was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Shadow's toes curled and dug into the carpet. He was at a loss for what to do with his hands, so he just awkwardly balled them into fists and closed his eyes to ride with the feeling. Sonic continued to bob back and forth holding on to his lover's hips for support, occasionally playing with the others tail. Sonic pulled away causing Shadow to give a disappointed whimper,

"Can I try something; I promise it won't hurt and I'll stop if you tell me?"

Shadow was not concerned with pain, and was curious to what Sonic had in mind. He hummed out an approval and Sonic began to suck on his own index figure. The display alone riling Shadow up further. Once his digit was slick enough, he reached behind Shadow and pushed against the exposed hole under his tail. Shadow went wide eyed and puffed up his quills and fur at the strange sensation but gradually got into it, as Sonic started sucking on him again. Shadow was losing his mind with Sonic giving him all this attention. He tapped a figure on the top of the cerulean head bellow him, causing the other to stop,

"Is something wrong Shadow, don't you like it?"

Shadow griped Sonic's arms and pulled him off the ground and both hogs sat on the edge of the bed,

"It's not that. I love it. it's just… it isn't fair on you. I want to make you feel good as well."

"Oh…" Sonic said allowing Shadow to take control, "What did you have in mind?"

Shadow locked lips with Sonic once more and they both fell back on their sides facing each other. Shadow started to grind his hips against Sonic's, rubbing their erections together in the process. Sonic whined with the contact not realizing how touch deprived he was. They continued to hump into each other until Sonic reached out for Shadow's hand. Sonic directed the paw over to the joined members and helped Shadow grasp them both. Sonic held the other side and began to pump up and down along with the dark male. Shadow involuntarily bucked his hips hard in pleasure, closing his eyes tight. He was very close and he hoped Sonic wasn't far behind. Both hogs became erratic with their movements, as they panted heavily. The hedgehogs made eye contact with each other and got lost in one another's entrancing gaze.

"Sonic…huff…I think…huff.. I'm…"

"Yeah…huff…me too."

Shadow was the first to cum, letting out a loud growl as he did so. He was still sensitive but refused to quit for Sonic's sake. He continued to pump even faster rubbing the weeping members together. Finally, a few moments later Sonic was on the verge of erupting as well,

"Oh Shadow. Oh. I'm…Shadow! Agh! I love you! Aah"

Sonic came hard making an even bigger mess than Shadow had, all over the covers between them. Shadow listened to Sonic breath as he came down from his high. He waited patiently for the tired male to get done nuzzling into his chest fur before asking,

"You do?"

Sonic shot up from where he was laying realizing what he had just admitted. The blue hogs, emerald eyes where wild, trying to find his words,

"Um well, Shadow I… I mean if that's…"

"Don't worry about it, I understand. It was a heat of the moment remark." Shadow gave a patient but disappointed smile.

Sonic took in a deep breath collecting himself, and prepared to give in to his heart,

"No, I meant it. I do think I love you. I don't think I would had acted the way I have if I didn't."

Shadow stared back at Sonic with and unreadable expression,

"Sonic."

"Y-yes" the hog uttered out expecting the worst.

"I love you too."

Sonic could feel relief fall onto him and his heart began to race once more.

"Sonic, I have never felt this way for anyone, it's different from how I felt with Maria, and half the time I don't know what I'm feeling… But I think it has to be love."

Sonic felt like he was going to cry again,

"Ditto."

Shadow stood up and grabbed his sweat pants from the floor and folded them neatly placing the item in the corner of the room. Sonic finally took off the pajama top and threw it to the side where his discarded bottoms lay. Shadow, looked down at the covers of the bed and made a face at the white stain in the middle,

"Where do you keep your spare blankets?"

"In the dresser, bottom drawer." Sonic replied, taking the hint and began to remove the current blanket.

Shadow returned to the bed with a plush light baby blue comforter to exchange with the old tarnished red one. Sonic went to turn off the light, and both hogs scooted up close to each other in the bed. Shadow laid on his back with Sonic on his side laying his head on the dark male's chest, wrapping his arms around his torso. Shadow gently pet Sonic's head rubbing his lover's soft ears every once in a while.

"That was… pretty dang good for your firsts time getting down and dirty, you sure you didn't lie to me?" the blue hero said nuzzling with his bed mate.

"I'm positive," Shadow chuckled lowly, "I'm still in shock that, that just happened"

"You and me both."

The blue hog grinned mischievously and wiggled his brows at his boyfriend,

"What did you mean by Rouge showed you how to research this stuff?

Shadow groaned and playfully pushed the leach that was attached to him away,

"She directed me to… specific web cites on my phone for educational purposes."

"Oh my Gods." Sonic couldn't contain himself.

"I wouldn't recommend the content though; the scenarios are unrealistic and the acting is terrible." Shadow said with a cheeky smirk allowing his love to lose his mind in laughter.

Sonic reattached himself to Shadow and tried to stifle his fit. They were in silence once more as Sonic stared off into the distance. Out of nowhere, Sonic looked up to Shadow and spoke,

"I'm going to tell you about my past."

Shadow locked eyes with his companion not saying a word, just listening to what Sonic had to say.

"I'm trusting you to keep this between us, even Tails doesn't know the whole story."

Shadow nodded coming to terms with the fact that what was about to be expressed was very important to Sonic, and by telling him it showed that Sonic truly loved him and had his full trust.

"My mother died when I was born, I guess it was some sort of complication during birth but the true reason was never explained to me. It always seemed to be a mystery." Sonic said taking a deep breath and staring at the ceiling.

"I was left with my father, but he… wasn't very nice. I think he used to be, but after my mother died, he changed," Sonic paused then looked up to Shadow with a serious face, "And after I tell you this, you have to promise not to treat me any differently."

Shadow nodded again,

"I promise."

Sonic continued, feeling at ease with Shadow. The blue hog tightened his grip around the dark one's waist,

"My dad would say horrible stuff to me, and he did as far back as I can remember. I was neglected a lot of the time and it's a wonder that I survived my infant years."

Shadow spoke up a little unsure if he should ask questions or if he should just listen,

"What do you mean, by horrible stuff?"

"Things like, I was weak, or worthless. That I couldn't do anything for myself," Sonic voice cracked a tiny bit as he continued, "Sometimes he would say really bizarre stuff like, it should have been you not your mother; you're a demon; you're a murderer."

Sonic collected himself breathing slowly,

"Anyway, I was about seven, and my father woke me up and told me to get in his truck."

_A young blue hedgehog walked out into the drive way of his child hood home, if it could be called that. The hoglet pulled open the door to the vehicle and used all his strength to climb into the passenger seat. The baby Mobian looked behind himself to see the truck bed was packed and covered with a tarp. Soon an adult male hedgehog, also blue in color but nowhere near as vibrant as the young boy's hue, entered the vehicle. His eyes where black and cold and he smelled like smoke._

_"Where are we going, Sir?" the small boy said looking up to the older hedgehog with his own set of black eyes that had a few hints of forest green peeking through._

_The man said nothing and started the truck, not even making eye contact with the child. They drove down the road for what seemed like forever. The child lost track of his whereabouts because of the unfamiliar territory. The truck finally pulled into a gas station, in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere._

_"Go in and get me a bottled water," the man said lowly handing the boy a twenty-dollar bill. _

_Twenty dollars was a lot of money at the time for just a trip to the gas station but the child was too naive to question it. He went inside grabbing a water and paid the cashier. When the hedgehog returned, the truck was gone and so was his father. The child stood motionless for a good ten minutes, which was unusual for the hyperactive tot. The boy silently turned around to reenter the store and tell the cashier that he had been abandoned so they may call the police, but his hand wouldn't reach out for the handle. In his short seven years of life, all that had been told to him by the man that tormented him on a daily basis would be true, if he opened that door. The hog thought about what the police would do with him once they picked him up. He would most likely be put in an orphanage to spend his life there or he would be pawned off to the next horrible person in line. The boy lowered his head as he allowed his emotions to take control. The bottle still in his tiny hand was being clenched hard as he balled his fists and shook._

_Suddenly the kid was off running away from the building in the opposite direction from his home. The hoglet was fast for a kid his age, but nothing crazy. The hog still prided himself on his natural talent though, because it's all he really had. He jumped barbed wire and rushed through open fields, cutting his knees on brambles in the process. But he refused to cry; refused to look back. Pain continued to build in his heart and all the boy wanted was release. He wanted to run far away, so fast that no one could find him. He built up more and more speed pushing his tiny body to its limits, but still refused to stop. He closed his eyes and wished with all his heart that everything would turn out okay, that he had the power to make it through. The child barely noticed in his emotional state, that the world was going by in streaks of color around him._

_Boom!_

_The sound of a sonic boom ripped through the air as the hedgehog broke the sound barrier and was launched forward in a boost of powerful speed._

Sonic zoned out in thought for a few minutes, while he was still in Shadow's arms. He held in his tears that threatened to wet his eyes again, as he played with his boyfriend's white patch of chest fur.

"That was the first time I ran, like really ran. That's when I found out that I had super speed."

Shadow allowed the action, and looked down at his lover,

"What did you do after that?"

"I ended up in Green Hill. I was homeless. I slept on playgrounds and in the woods. I survived."

Sonic looked up at Shadow with guilt plastered on his face,

"I stole food and money from people using my powers. I did most anything to get by. I never asked for help because I didn't want to be weak; I thought everyone was out to get me. I thought they would try and screw me over. I didn't trust anyone; I secretly still have a hard time putting my faith fully into people."

Shadow kissed the weeping hero's head,

"I can understand that, but in the end, you still made a friend."

Sonic barked out a sarcastic laugh through his tears,

"Yeah and I was a complete ass to Tails when I first met him. He was fallowing me around like a lost puppy and all I could think was, what the hell does this kid want from me."

Sonic softened his eyes as he remembered,

"I did have fun going on adventures and exploring. I found lots of cool places that were untouched. The only issue I guess, is that I had no one to share them with."

"Did no one question the homeless kid wandering around?" Shadow said a little irritated with idea of people just ignoring a helpless child.

Sonic propped himself up on his arm and held his face in his hand looking amused at the dark hero's concern,

"Well, to be honest that's my fault. When I was around people, I acted like nothing was wrong. Around other kids I started acting like the town cool guy, that didn't have to go to school, left his parents, and came and went as he pleased. I was like Huckleberry Finn." Sonic said almost pleased with himself.

"So… you lied to them?"

Sonic cringed,

"I prefer to say I told stories. I made a persona for myself at first, it was small stuff just to get mean kids off my back, but then it grew when I had to keep it up. That's when I started going by Sonic the hedgehog. It was kind of like my super hero name. I didn't mind it in the end, I felt like being Sonic separated me from my previous life in some way."

Shadow who was looking Sonic dead in the eyes, at a nose's length away from him, dropped his mouth open a little,

"Do you mean to tell me that Sonic, isn't your real name."

The blue hog's eyes flew open wide, realizing he had been caught,

"I mean, it is now. I got that name from my mother's old biplane, that sat around the back of the house, I think the brand was Sonic Air Crafts. When I finally went back to my abandoned house the plane had been left, that's the Tornado One you know today. I had my name legally changed when I was fourteen, when the government found out that the hero of Modius didn't have any legal documents or identification. So as long as you've known me, I've been Sonic."

Shadow was stunned by all the new information. Never in a million year would he have imagined that Sonic's early life would had been so hard. He seemed so happy most of the time, without a care in the world.

"Are you going to tell me what it was?" Shadow asked.

"It's nothing special or crazy," Sonic snickered at the dark hog's sudden curiosity, "It's not important anyway, so no, I'm not."

Shadow rolled on his side and gave an evil grin. If Sonic hadn't known the other was being playful, he might have thought that he had crawled in bed with the devil.

"If you don't tell me," Shadow's grin widened to creepy horror movie levels, "I suppose you'll have to face the consequences."

Shadow was on, Sonic pinning him to the bed. He held the bleu hero's arms in place with his legs, while the giggling hog kicked his own legs wildly behind his attacker. Shadow began tickling his victim's sides and arm pits, occasionally leaning down and lightly nipping the others neck. The kicking became more frantic and tears appeared in Sonics eyes as he laughed uncontrollably,

"Stop, Shadow stop!"

"Are you going to give me the intel?" Shadow said between love bites.

"Ha ha! Never!" Sonic blurted out, "Stop! Stop, your gonna make me pee myself!"

Shadow ceased his actions and the other hedgehog propped himself up on his elbows. Sonic tried to silence his giggling and beckoned Shadow down to his level with a finger. The blue hog whispered something into his boyfriend's ear. Shadow smiled then kissed his lover on the lips.

"That's a super-secret, no one can know. You'll ruin the allusion," Sonic said handing out another one of his winks, "Now get off of me, I wasn't kidding about needing to pee."

Shadow finally released his captive and allowed the other to head to the bathroom. Before Sonic left the room, he turned to the dark male with one hand on the door frame and chuckled,

"We are the worst at pillow talk."

Far away in central city, Major Commander Crow was overlooking paper work in his office. He flipped through packets of confidential information until he heard the intercom at his door sound off,

"Lieutenant Commander Topaz, reporting in."

"Come in," said crow as he pressed a button on his desk opening the doors.

"You requested to see me Sir."

"Yes, I did Topaz. You are very close to agent Shadow, aren't you?"

The woman looked at the man with suspicion,

"Yes, I over see the whole of Team Dark with Commander Towers."

"What would you say his work ethic is, any complaints, perhaps he is disobedient," Crow walked to his window looking out at the night sky, "Perhaps he gets… violent?"

Topaz fallowed the man with her eyes,

"I can't say that he is, Sir. Shadow is an excellent agent; always completes missions to a T."

The man turned his head and flashed his grey eyes at the woman,

"Are you sure there is nothing he has done?"

Topaz finally caught on to what the man was wanting. A confession; he probably was recording the conversation, but she refused to be scared into submission by this man, like she had seen happen to so many others. She gave Crow a look of disgust,

"No Sir, the only thing Shadow does wrong, is work too hard."

Crow turned fully to Topaz giving the young woman a threatening stance,

"Really now?"

"Crow," Topaz said holding her ground, "I know what you are attempting to do, and I will have you know that I refuse to lie about agent Shadow, for your own personal vendetta. I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to him because of me. I know you only see him as a weapon, but he is his own person; a good person. If you want to fire me go ahead, if you want to frame me that's fine too, but I will not be your pawn."

Topaz saluted her superior with a look of passion in her features,

"Permission to leave, Sir!"

Crow stared at the headstrong woman, who was looking into nothingness ahead of her, and with a grunt turned back to the window,

"Permission granted."

Topaz left the room through the metallic sliding doors and Crow continued to stare out at the sky of the witching hour. The man had just about had it with people challenging his authority, and thought an example needed to be made.

"Well, strong and attractive, but incredibly stupid." Crow muttered to himself, "I guess that's not going to work."

The horrible excuse for a man walked back to his desk and looked at the black screen whose feed had been disrupted by the blue annoyance twice in a row,

"Time for plan B."

...

Ps: Sonic's birth name is completely up for interpretation.


	12. NoMoreMisterNiceHog

Ch 12. No More Mister Nice Hog

The light from outside the bedroom window touched Sonic's face, causing the hedgehog to involuntarily sneeze. The previously slumbering hero was comfortably laying in his bed, arms wrapped perfectly around his lover. Except it wasn't his lover. Sonic's eyes shot open only to find his boyfriend had been replaced by a giant hot dog, and he was hugging the item like a koala would a tree. The hog pushed away his body pillow and became slightly annoyed. Had Shadow left this morning, or did he leave last night after Sonic had fallen asleep. Sonic couldn't Imagine Shadow doing a, wham bam thank you _man, but in the end was unsure. The hedgehog decided to make sure for himself and got up from the bed to venture to his living room._

Sonic was increasingly becoming angrier as he went from room to room in his tiny cottage looking for his boyfriend. The hog however found no trace of the other in his home. Sonic slammed his fist on his kitchen counter and held back tears. Had he been played, he thought. The frustrated hero needed to release some aggression and proceeded to yell at no one,

"What the hell!"

Sonic snarled his muzzle,

"Shadow! I can't believe you, you bastard!"

"Um… I'm sorry…," a voice came from behind the screaming hog.

Sonic whipped around to find Shadow standing in the entry to the kitchenette holding a paper bag with a yellow, _M, printed on it. Well, now Sonic felt like an ass. Of course, Shadow wouldn't just leave him. At least not without leaving a note or telling him first. Sonic approached Shadow with a sheepish face,_

"Shadow… I'm sorry… I thought."

"You thought I had left you alone after last night." Shadow finished Sonic's sentence, "I know; it's my fault. I should have told you. I'm sorry, I wanted to surprise you with breakfast, like you had done for me."

"No, don't take the blame. I'm the one being crazy." Sonic said placing a hand on his own forehead.

Shadow closed the space between the two and placed the bag of food down on the counter. He wrapped his arms around his love and placed a kiss on Sonic's ear,

"I already promised that I'm not going to leave you. Now, you didn't have anything in this house that I could cook so I was forced to go out and hunt for our breakfast."

Sonic removed himself from the others grasp and peeked inside the bag,

"Ah yes, the mighty hunter, traveling to distant lands to track game, such as a wild bacon egg and cheese biscuit, for his mate."

Shadow "pft" under his breath and rolled his eyes.

They both sat at the table eating there rather unhealthy, but oh so good, food. In between bites Sonic looked down and noticed he was still practically naked from last night. He then glanced at Shadow who was back in his sweat pants and… Sonic's shoes?

"Um, excuse me. You thief." Sonic said pointing to the stolen items.

Shadow gave Sonic a questioning look and then realized. He smiled while he continued to eat his breakfast sandwich,

"Oh, I was wondering when you would notice."

"Heck yeah I noticed, what's the big idea?"

"I needed to go out and I came over last night bare foot. I didn't want to travel back home and risk that nosy bat questioning me, I hope you don't mind." Shadow finished another bite then continued, "Worry not they are a tad small for me so I will refrain from taking them in the future."

Sonic smiled and cocked a brow,

"I didn't know you could even run without those rocket skates of yours."

Shadow dead panned,

"Sonic do you want to have a couple's spat, because we can fight."

Sonic snorted and erupted into laughter. Shadow grinned at the wonderful sound of his happy lover. As Shadow watched Sonic try and calm himself down the dark hog made a tiny vow to himself, _I will protect Sonic, and I will keep him happy. Shadow's promise list was growing, but he did not mind._

"How did this happen?"

Shadow was suddenly torn from his thoughts as Sonic spoke,

"How did we go from enemies at each other's throats, to arch rivals, then leap to having breakfast with each other while I'm nude and your wearing my sneakers?"

Shadow thought about the strangeness of the situation as well. He reached out for Sonic's hand and held it across the table,

"I don't know. It is rather comical, but I believe I like it better this way."

"Yeah, I really like it too." Sonic said, his heart so full that he felt his chest could burst at any moment, "I've never had anything like this, heck besides Amy's declarations, I've never had anyone who has said they love me before."

Shadow frowned at the last statement and squeezed Sonic's hand a little tighter,

"This is new for me as well. And, just so you don't forget, I do love you."

The day continued on and Shadow ended up spending it at Sonic's place. The G.U.N agent knew he had to return to work the next day, and wanted to spend as much time with Sonic as possible. They cleaned up the mess from last night washing the blanket and tiding up the room before they moved on to Sonic's to do list. Sonic didn't want Shadow to feel obligated to help him do menial house work, but the dark male insisted. After they had cleaned most of the entire house, top to bottom, taking both speedy Mobians approximately and hour, finally, Sonic added one more thing to his agenda.

"Let's go shopping." Sonic said

Shadow looked at the blue hero with amusement,

"Alright, but I'm not caring all your bags for you."

"I meant grocery shopping," Sonic said with a huff, not liking the idea of being accused of sounding like a teenage girl wanting her boyfriend to take her to the mall, "I have a feeling you are going to be spending a lot more time here, and I don't want to have to eat fast food all the time."

Shadow hummed in agreement.

"If you come with me, we can pick out things we both like." Sonic said heading to his room to put on some clothes.

Sonic came back wearing gloves, socks, and oddly a green and white flannel shirt. In his hand he was carrying his Soap shoes and a gray T-shirt that had a print of, _Chao in Space: Two, on it. Sonic handed his shirtless boyfriend the items,_

"Here, trade shoes with me."

Shadow took off the sneakers and replaced them with the other shoes. Then he took the shirt and pulled it over his head.

"Sorry I didn't want you going to the store with just sweat pants and no shirt lookin' like a scrub." Sonic said playfully.

Shadow was actually quite thankful. He liked to look presentable, and since he had not taken a shower since their activities from the night before, his fur was matted and a mess, especially around his crotch. Sonic however looked fine; Shadow could only assume it was because the hog had cleaned himself last night when he went to use the bathroom.

"Thank you," Shadow said, "But why are you wearing that top?"

Sonic blushed,

"Well, you seemed to really like my button up from last night so I thought…"

Shadow returned to blush and grinned,

"I find you attractive with or without it, but I will say I like the idea of you dressing up in formal wear."

Sonic winked,

"Right back at ya. Well I guess not formal wear. Let's just say if you have to wear a uniform for G.U.N one day, you better be letting me know."

Shadow cursed under his breath. He was wishing that G.U.N made uniforms in Modian sizes.

The pair were picking out different easy to make meals for themselves when down the aisle, they were spotted by a pink female. Amy Rose skipped to the couple, and Sonic braced himself. However, the girl stopped at a respectable distance from the blue male and greeted him,

"Hey Sonic! Fancy meeting you here."

The female hog turned to Sonic's partner and smiled,

"Hello Shadow."

"Miss Rose, it's a pleasure as always." Shadow said politely, gracing Amy with a warm smile; rendering the girl speechless.

"Don't be nice to her, I know she's up to somethin'." Sonic said squinting his eyes, giving the pink one a fake suspicious look.

Amy snapped out of her daze,

"Excuse me! I was just buying some ingredient for a cake I'm baking. What are you two doing here?"

Shadow spoke up, surprising Sonic with how vocal he was being in the presence of others,

"We are buying food for the house, when I got up this morning there was absolutely nothing in the fridge."

Now the blue hero wished his boyfriend would go back to being the silent type and keep his trap shut. Amy's face was red and her mouth was open. Shadow realized what he said had Implied, as his eyes darted to Sonic unsure of what to do. That was the last time he tried to be social, Shadow thought. Sonic face palmed.

"Are… Are you two living together?" Amy asked.

"No, no. Shads just spent the night."

Amy's face was even brighter now,

"O-oh, um…"

Sonic franticly waved his hands,

"It's not anything like that!"

Well it kind of was, Sonic thought, but he didn't need to scar Amy with that information. The girl nervously laughed and Sonic proceeded to do the same. They then stood awkwardly staring at each other until Amy spoke once more,

"That's kind of hot. See ya!"

With that the strange girl was gone leaving Shadow confused and Sonic beside himself whit what had just happened.

"What?" Shadow said staring down the aisle.

"Shadow, I think we have a fan."

The next day Shadow was back at G.U.N headquarters. He felt refreshed and ready to work. Nothing that could possibly happen had the power bring him down, knowing that he had someone who loved him and that he loved in return. That is what he thought.

The agent sat in the briefing room listening to Commander Towers spout off information about team dark's next mission. Rouge and Omega both sat next to him, and Topaz was standing at attention next to her superior. The Commander's concentration was broken however, when an armed soldier interrupted the meeting,

"Major Commander Crow, is requesting to see agent Shadow."

Silence fell over the group and Shadow caught Topaz's eyes that had the look of dread written into them. Shadow silently stood from his seat and aloud the guard to escort him.

He reached Crow's office where the man himself was patiently waiting. Crow stood in front of his desk and grinned as the door shut behind Shadow.

"Greetings agent Shadow, did you enjoy your vacation?"

Shadow grunted,

"Just get to it Crow, I've got Important matters to attend to."

Crow chuckled to himself,

"Now, now Shadow, is that anyway to address your superior. Actually, I've been getting pretty fed up with your disobedience and I don't apricate you hiding behind your little boyfriend."

Crow looked at the Mobian alien hybrid, as if he was the most vile thing he had ever seen,

"First of all, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of a Chaos emerald. All emeralds that are found on missions or otherwise are to be handed over to G.U.N for security reasons. You will be issued it when you are sent out on field work."

Shadow groaned and pulled the emerald out of his quills and handed it to the Major Commander, giving up yet another thing, he had worked hard to obtain, to the man. That one was special too, because he had found it with Sonic's help.

Shadow stared through the man who wished to torture him, not wanting to give him any sort of reaction.

"So, let me tell you how this is going to work," Crow took a step forward and leaned down, disrespecting Shadow by insulting his height, "Either you shape up, become obedient, work when I tell you for as long as I tell you, and break up with your whore; so you don't have any more distractions, or I make sure the world knows about you and that blue shit's dirty little secret. Incriminating pictures and all."

Shadow wasn't sure if Crow had been bluffing about the Images, but found it an odd coincidence the him and Sonic had recently been intimate with each other. Crow saw the hint of fear on the hedgehog's otherwise poker face,

"Do you know how many death threats Sonic would get; how many people would turn on him? Maybe even some of his own friends. Random people that just don't like fags might try and kill him when he least expects it."

Shadow knew the world was different from when he was created over fifty years ago. Back then if you were gay, and it came to light you might as well sign your own death certificate. Now a days however, Shadow was aware that that sort of thing was much more tolerated, but Sonic wasn't just anybody, he was Sonic. A celebrity. The hero of Mobius. Was crow just trying to trick him or would people really react in such a way, Shadow thought. Crow stood back up at full attention and laughed into the air,

"I'll give you a minute to sort it out."

Shadow lowered his head. He was at a loss for what to do. On one hand, he loved Sonic and had made a promise to the blue hero that he had intended to keep. On the other hand, he couldn't keep his word to Sonic if crow outed him, and he couldn't protect him from everyone and keep him happy at the same time. Shadow began to shake.

"Well what will it be." The malicious man said through a shit eating grin.

Crow's face dropped when he noticed the hedgehog vibrate and clench his fists tight. His eyes were shut and the air started to become thick. Suddenly, a red aura began emit from Shadow's body and streams of energy started whipping around in the air erratically. Every passing second the power of the display became stronger. Shadow's eyes shot open reviling the whites of his eyes had become yellow and his red irises had small slits for pupils. His quills were splayed out and sharp. The shadow that was being cast on the wall behind him from the light of the office window looked more like the silhouette of a demon than a hedgehog. Shadow took a step forward causing crow to stumble back in fear and fall to the ground looking up, staring death in the face.

Without warning, Shadow shut his eyes again and inhaled through his nose, all of the energy in the air essentially being sucked back into his body. The air became calm again and Shadow opened his eyes to reveal that his form was back to normal. Shadow looked down at the man on the ground beneath him and burrowed his cold, blood colored irises into Crow.

"Yes… Sir." Shadow said mockingly through gritted teeth, proud of himself for causing the titan to fall without even laying a hand on him.

Shadow was enraged but was honestly a tad excited on the inside. It had been too long since he had the chance to prove his power; since he was able to be the ultimate life form. Crow had awakened a sleeping giant and Shadow was prepared to let him know about it.

Shadow turned and walked out of the room leaving Crow, still on the ground and his guards cowering, one of which was standing in a puddle from where he had lost control of his bladder, when he thought he was about to die.

"Aaaghhhh!"

A loud yell, followed by a planet shattering explosion could be heard from outside the office. The whole base shook and Crow scrambled to see what the cause was. Out the window Crow saw Shadow standing in the middle of a crater in a grassy area, not far off from the executive parking lot. Trees near the surrounding area had been burnt to a crisp, and the fresh hole in the ground was deep. Shadow pulled himself out of the hole and people that were passing by looked on in horror. However, some employees that knew the dark hero asked him if he was alright from a distance. Shadow raised his hand and kept the other on his hip signaling that everything was okay; no need to panic.

Shadow returned to Rouge and Omega, letting them know that he was fine. The bat attempted to ask the hog about the disruption, but Shadow said he would tell her at a later date. The dark hero turned to find his commander and without a hint of regret for his rudeness, simply told Towers that he was leaving for the day. The human understood and nodded, while Topaz held her hand over her mouth in concern. Shadow promptly left to retrieve his bike.

Sonic had not expected to see Shadow show up at his door. The dark male before him looked pissed, as he addressed the blue hog,

"May I come in?" Shadow ask, but it was more like a demand as he did not wait for his love's response, simply pushing past the hog.

Shadow proceeded to sit on the couch and rub his temples with his fingers. The dark male looked up to Sonic who was standing in the living room, hands down to his sides looking at a loss. Shadow felt guilt for treating Sonic that way,

"I'm… I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Just tell me what the heck is going on."

Shadow told Sonic everything, starting with his first encounter with Crow. Sonic noticed the air begin to heat up as Shadow went into detail about the evil human being and what hell he had been putting him though. Shadow spit venom in his words as he spoke of the horrible things Crow had called Sonic, causing the blue male to smile at the dark one, for feeling like that was an important detail. Sonic smiled extra big when Shadow got to the events that had happened only a few hours prior.

"Sonic why are you smiling? This is horrible, everyone will know about your secret." Shadow said still upset.

"I'm smiling because you put that power hungry, miserable, creature in his place. I'm also smiling because he thinks he has one over on you, but he doesn't."

Sonic went to sit next to Shadow and rubbed his arm to comfort the worked-up hog, who was threating to give him a heat stroke with how hot his energy was making the air. Shadow turned to face his lover and cocked his head to the side,

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'd rather have you, than keep my sexuality a secret. If he wants to out me, go ahead, I'm not going to let that get in the way of being with you. Yeah, it's scary and I don't know how everyone is going to react, but I know I have most of my friends, and I know I'd have you. I wouldn't desert you, even if it meant I'd have to give up everything, because you're not just my boyfriend, you're my friend as well. Even if we were to break up on our own, for some reason down the road, I'd still always love you. I care about you more than some stupid secret. I would rather want to give you the chance to be happy."

Shadow stared at Sonic in wonder and for the first time since he had been awakened from stasis, he felt like he was going to completely fall apart. Sonic's eyes went wide at the tears that bubbled over from tear ducts and fell from the ruby eyes, staining Shadow's cheeks. It was a strong cry; a silent cry; a beautiful cry. Shadow was in a strange mixture of despair, from all the horrible thing he had been forced to go through throughout his life, and complete happiness; which was stressful on its own because the male had never experienced such an emotion before. Shadow wrapped his arms around Sonic who now had tears of his own streaming down his face as he watched the display.

Shadow pulled their foreheads together gently, and stared into the other's eyes. Sonic noticed that the hot air was pleasantly warm now, and out of nowhere what looked like a green aurora danced above them on the ceiling. Shadow began to laugh through his tears of happiness, as gorgeous fractals of light appeared around the pair turning the living room into a kaleidoscope image. Sonic was in awe with his love, and had the sudden Impulse to try something. Sonic leaned in and kissed Shadow on the lips and the dark hog closed his eyes. The green light show exploded into a sea of colors; all the colors of the emeralds. Everything added up, it all made sense. Shadow had never been a demon; not once since his creation. He had always been, and will forever be, the world's guardian angel.

Shadow opened his glassy eyes and admired his own creation. With both hog's faces still wet, they pulled away from the kiss and watched the spectacle of color dissipate around them as the energy was absorbed back into Shadow for future use. Sonic turned to his lover,

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Shadow smiled again wiping his face, "I've never done that before."

Shadow paused and thought for a moment,

"In fact, I have only ever been trained on how to use my Chaos abilities for combat, because the professor thought Chaos energy was inherently malevolent and had to be manipulated into using it for good purposes. However, I have discovered over the years for that to be untrue."

Shadow collected his thoughts and for the most part was just speaking out loud,

"Chaos energy is just that, energy. It is neither good nor bad, it is only controlled by people that have good or bad intentions. If Chaos energy was an evil force then someone like you would not be able to use it to save the world."

Sonic stared at Shadow taking the unintentional complement and grinning wide,

"I bet there is a whole bunch of stuff that you can do, that you don't know about yet."

"I think you're right." Shadow said leaning in for another kiss.

After they had calmed down, Sonic became suddenly very serious,

"Hey, what are you going to do now?"

Shadow looked up from his phone, which he had been using to respond to Rouge's mountain of text messages, and saw that Sonic's face was stern. His muzzle was sporting a frown and is eyes narrowed, but he wasn't looking at Shadow. No, he was boring a hole through his wall and staring straight, all the way to G.U.N headquarters and into Crows office. Gods, Sonic could be intimidating when he wanted to be, Shadow thought. It was kind of attractive.

"Are you contractually obligated to work at G.U.N, or was it just a silent agreement." Sonic said not allowing the other to answer his first question.

"I'm not a G.U.N soldier, I'm an agent. I never signed anything saying I had to stay for an allotted amount of time, if that's what you are asking. I'm actually not certain that me working there is completely legal, I'm more like government property." Shadow answered.

"Do you want to quit?"

Shadow looked dumbfounded by the hero's words,

"Well, yes."

Sonic turned to face Shadow, a fiery passion burning in his emerald eyes,

"Then quit."

Sonic said the statement like the answer to his problems should have been obvious from the very beginning. The situation had been a little more complicated than that but Shadow was eating up Sonic's intenseness.

"Quit right now, call up Crow personally and tell him you're done. Never return to that hell hole again." Sonic was increasingly becoming more and more excited as his words became less and less family friendly, "Tell him to shove it. Tell him to fuck off. And if that cowered has something to say about It, direct him to me. I'll give him a direct kick to the balls with the fastest feet on Mobius."

Shadow would be lying if he said he wasn't a little turned on right now. Isn't it just the way it goes that two people having a common enemy brings them closer together? Now it was Shadow's turn to get excited as he joined in with his companion's mirth,

"I'll do it!"

"Good! Go for it!"

"I'll do it right now!"

"Tell his sorry ass how it is!"

"I'll tell that bastard to go to hell!"

"That's what I like to hear!"

Back at G.U. N headquarters, Crow was pouring himself his third shot of whisky, that he secretly kept in his desk. He had a cigar hanging out of his mouth and his hands shook as he poured the drink. The man's phone rang and Crow jumped slightly. He quickly pressed the button on the intercom putting him though to his secretary,

"What is it?"

"Sir, Shadow the hedgehog is on line two."

Crow went still, but then carefully picked up the phone,

"This is Major Commander Crow."

The voice of the dark hero could be heard over the other end of the receiver, as his next statement came out like he was spitting something disgusting out of his mouth,

"I quit."

Shadow hung up the phone and sheepishly looked at his boyfriend,

"I drew a blank."

Sonic leaned one hand on his kitchen counter and the other connected with his face. He smiled with closed eyes, but soon opened them to look at his edgy yet goof ball of a boyfriend,

"Well that was a little under whelming, but I'm still proud of you."


	13. TheFugitive

Ch 13. The Fugitive

Later that night, after Shadow had explained the situation to Rouge, calming the bat down, Sonic insisted that Shadow spend the night again. Sonic wanted to celebrate the dark hero's new found freedom, so he went to the store and bought a large bottle of wine.

"I thought you said you didn't like drinking." Shadow said smugly.

"I don't normally, but this is a special occasion." Sonic retorted.

Shadow looked at the bottle and then back to his boyfriend,

"You do know that that won't even get me buzzed right?"

Sonic flashed a grin and reached under his cabinet, pulling something out,

"That's why the wine is mine. This is for you."

Shadow examined the item in question. It was a two-liter glass bottle of one hundred proof vodka. It looked like it was expensive too. Sonic noticed Shadow's hesitation,

"Don't worry it was a birthday gift, I'm never going to drink it. That stuff tastes like hand sanitizer anyway."

Shadow nodded and took the heavy bottle by its' neck,

"Well, you're not typically supposed to drink this straight, it's for mixing."

Sonic hummed as he found his cork screw and proceeded to open his wine. When the struggling hog finally popped out the cork, he turned to see Shadow was chugging the vodka. He stared at Shadow as the other lowered the beverage. One liter of the clear liquid was gone.

"You're right, it does taste like hand sanitizer."

Sonic scrunched up his nose,

"Shadow, that was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. How am I supposed to kiss you? Go brush your teeth."

Shadow snorted in amusement with half lidded eyes, already feeling the effects of the copious amounts of alcohol he just consumed. He turned to the bathroom but then whipped back around,

"I don't have a tooth brush here, and Crow took my emerald remember."

"Yes you do, I bought you one, it's the green one in the cup on the sink." Sonic said pouring himself his first glass, "And don't worry we'll find you another emerald."

Shadow wasn't worried but appreciated Sonic's offer anyway. The hog was about to proceed to the bathroom when it dawned on him,

"You… bought me a tooth brush specifically for your house?"

Sonic took a sip of his wine,

"Yeah, I cleared out a drawer for you too, so you can have a nice neat place to put your stuff when you leave it here. I know you like things to be organized."

Sonic decided to try and catch up to Shadow, and downed his drink and went to pour another glass,

"Don't ask me why, I guess I just like ya or somethin'."

Shadow was visibly drunk now and Sonic was hammered. The blue hog leaned into his boyfriend as they sat on the couch. Sonic was on his phone showing Shadow funny pictures that he had saved and images from past adventures, explaining when they were taken.

"And this one's me ans Taisss on the loss hex. I-I wus sooo pissed at Eggmans when thas happen. He trick me in ta thinkin' he wus dead." Sonic slurred his words.

Shadow looked at the picture of Sonic and Tails smiling in front of strange blocky looking plants and some happy smiling "_critters". Sonic looked up confused for a moment,_

"Thas the las time I saw eggheds, is been a long time. He mus be planin' somfin big."

Shadow silently nodded in agreement.

"Thas ok, I'm ready for um." Sonic said confidently through his stopper.

Shadow looked at Sonic with concern,

"Is that real confidence or is that the hero charm?"

"It's real. Ya know um always real wit you."

Sonic wobbled slightly,

"Well, for the mos part… the only ting is… well, everytime I fights him, he seems to ge moe and moe unhinged."

Shadow hummed,

"Ah, your afraid that he will do something insane eventually, something like actually blowing up the world, not just bluffing."

"Yeah…" Sonic said squinting his eyes in deep thought, "You always get what I'm sayin', other people jus look at me like I'm crazy."

"Of course," shadow said dryly, "I know many languages, even Sonic-nese."

Sonic giggled a little more feminine than he would have liked, but didn't care in the end due to his current mental state.

Shadow leaned back on to the couch. He wouldn't tell Sonic, but alcohol actually hurt him in a way. the dark hog's muscles were always so tense that when he drank, they all relaxed at once, leaving him achy. He stretched out, and Sonic placed a hand on his leg. The blue male half way laid on Shadow as he began to kiss him. It was small at first but escalated into making out. Sonic's sneaky hand slid up to try and connect with his lover's inner thigh, but was stopped by Shadow grabbing his hand.

"Nope." Shadow said lazily, "Not tonight."

Sonic looked like he was about to throw a temper tantrum,

"Whhhyyy?"

"Becussseee." Shadow mocked Sonic's behavior, "We are drunk, and I don't want that for our first time."

Sonic quivered his lip and he dropped his ears, in an attempted to make himself look as cute and innocent as possible,

"But. But. I love you. An we don have ta has sex."

Sonic's tactic was working, he did look really cute, but shadow was stronger than he gave him credit for,

"I love you too, but I'm not in control of my body, and you definitely aren't. It may start out as just having fun, but then turn into something else."

Shadow saw sonic about to argue again. He felt like he was arguing with a brick wall, and decided on another approach,

"Hey what's that." Shadow said, catching Sonic's short attention span by surprise, "Did you buy a new game?"

Shadow pointed to a plastic bag sitting next to the gaming console on the floor. Sonic looked wide eyed as he remembered that yes in fact, he had bought a new game but forgot about it when Shadow had unexpectedly come over.

"Oh ya. I did."

Shadow smirked,

"I bet you can't play it in the state you're in."

Sonic looked determined with eyes that read, challenge excepted. Long story short, he couldn't even get past the tutorial.

A couple days later Shadow woke up yet again in Sonic's bed. The recluse was getting use to the idea of having a house mate, and was catching hints that Sonic wasn't opposed to the idea as well. The only issue, as of right now, was that Shadow's plants had to be tended to back at his loft. The dark male sat up and looked to his lover who lay naked on his side breathing slowly in his sleep.

Last night the pair had tried messing around again. Shadow had initiated the action this time, but was over taken by Sonic wanting to try giving his boyfriend oral again. This time however Shadow came from it, while Sonic released himself in his own hand. Shadow had felt guilty but Sonic seemed happy with himself. Just another thing he was being lazy about he supposed. The dark hero was driving himself crazy without a job to occupy his time, and minimum wage jobs were not what he felt the ultimate life form should be doing. Shadow had also found out that Sonic didn't get paid as a hero, which he should have expected, but didn't make him feel any better. Instead sonic would do odd jobs for people, but most of the time the hero couldn't bring himself to take the money from little old ladies that needed help cleaning their gutters, so that was a lost cause. The majority of Sonic's income however, came from an invention that Sonic had helped Tails design and sell. Sonic got fifty percent of the cut but was opposed to taking even that. Tails had done most of the work, Sonic just came up with the idea. The product was something about exchangeable treads for shoes. Essentially, it would allow a normal pair of shoes to become cleats, snow shoes, slip resistant, etc. Shadow didn't really see to much of the appeal but he knew if you slapped Sonic's name on it was going to sell.

Shadow leaned down and kissed Sonic's nose and shook his shoulder. Sonic breathed in sharply as he woke, startled by the sudden movement.

"Sorry," Shadow said, "I have to go take care of my house."

Sonic rubbed his face then presented shadow with a big smile,

"Okay… Hey, are you coming back after?"

"No," Shadow said a little unsure to how Sonic would react, "I think I'm going to stay there for a little while, I would apricate some alone time. Not that your driving me away or anything, I just like to be by myself from time to time. I still like being around you, I just…"

Sonic laughed,

"Say no more, I understand. I get that way too and I'm ten times more social than you are."

Sonic rolled out of bed and stretched,

"I think I'm gonna stay in today for a bit, but if you change your mind, I'll be at Tails' later tonight."

Okay, thank you." Shadow said as he kissed Sonic once more before leaving.

Shadow drove down the road feeling the wind on his fur as he was alone. The silence was rejuvenating, but a part of himself still wished to be with sonic even though they had practically been inseparable the past couple days. Shadow made it to Club Rouge and unlocked the door. He rode up to the top of the penthouse using elevator. Shadow pulled out his phone as the sound of the calm elevator music played.

Rouge:

Hey

Rouge:

How's it going with your bf ;)

Shadow read the old text messages from last night. Then coincidentally, three dots appeared on his screen. Rouge was texting him again.

Rouge:

Something is going on.

Shadow:

What do you mean?

Rouge:

There are armed soldiers everywhere and they won't talk to me.

Rouge:

I don't think they're going to let me leave.

Shadow:

Is there a lock down? Has there been a security breach?

Rouge:

I don't know but they usually announce that sort of thing.

Shadow:

Do you have a bad feeling?

Shadow sent the last text as the doors to the elevator slid open. He had asked Rouge that question because she was typically right when it came to gut feelings. Shadow walked into his loft and proceeded to wait for a response; but none came. She must be talking to someone, he thought.

Shadow picked up his watering can from beside the door and began filling it up. The sound of running water entered Shadow's ears but oddly something else as well. Shadow shut off the faucet and listened. He waited, scanning the room looking for a possible cause to the tiny disturbance. Shadow realized, and his eyes went wide as he hit the floor.

Crash!

Glass shattered from all the windows as the G.U.N Swat Team burst through all possible exits. They broke through his door and twenty men filled the mini living area, knocking over furniture and trampling his plants along with all his hard work.

Shadow slowly raised himself.

"Stay on the ground and put your hand in the air!"

Shadow stood his ground, he wasn't afraid of bullets or being shot.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shadow snarled.

"Shadow The Hedgehog, you are under arrest for treason and theft of government property!"

"That's ridiculous, I have done no such thing."

The head leader motioned for another swat man to search the place. The soldier quietly went around looking through Shadow's things, violating his privacy and disrespecting his boundaries. Finally, the man shot up from a small dresser that Shadow had pushed to the far corner of the room. In his hand were three chaos emerald, his, a yellow one and a purple one.

"That's impossible." Shadow said at a loss for what to do or say.

"The proof is all right there." A voice said. seemingly out of nowhere.

Shadow turned his attention to a large tablet one of the men was holding, and on the screen showed a live feed into Crow's office, and there the devil was himself.

"Crow… to much of a coward to face me yourself?"

Crow laughed,

"I'll leave that up to the professionals, you're a danger to the public and a thief."

Shadow growled at the monster on the screen.

"And before you do anything stupid, I suggest you come quietly, you're wanted all over Mobius. There is no where you can go, that we can't find you eventually. If you run you will be on the run for the rest of your life." Crow said calmly grabbing the hog's attention.

Shadow's eyes darted back and forth. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to be put back into stasis, he didn't want to leave Sonic alone. But, in the end he raised his hands in defeat and allowed the soldiers to man handle him as they placed the cuffs on his wrists. He valued Sonic's safety the most and was uncertain if Crow were to get Sonic involved what kind of trouble Shadow could get him into.

Shadow was flown all the way to New Prison Island. He was taken into a sterilization room where he was painfully hosed off forced to remove his gloves and shoes. When the guard told him to remove his inhibitor ring as well, Shadow calmly responded with,

"Do you want this island to blow up a second time."

The guard didn't push it any further, instead continued to pressure wash the hog. He was then forced into a bright yellow, long sleeve, prison jumpsuit, that had radioactive hazard symbols printed on the front and back. Then he was forced to wear a metal collar with green lights across it. This was new, shadow thought, they must have up graded since the last time he was here… in the fifties. Shadow was walked down the hall like a criminal, all the way to a large open room with only a stasis machine along the far wall. The soldiers that accompanied him pointed their guns at the dark male, motioning him to lay down in the massive machine. Shadow reluctantly did as instructed, and allowed the hatch to the glass door to close.

At G.U.N headquarters, Rouge was standing with Omega, arguing with the man who just stole her phone. He was claiming it to be evidence. The enraged bat stomped her heeled boot on the ground,

"Someone better tell me what is going on around here, or there will be hell to pay."

The sliding doors to the open control room area slid open presenting the Major Commander on the other side. He walks into the room emitting confidence as he strode up to the bat.

"Miss Rouge," the slime ball said with fake compassion, "I am afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news. Your colleague, Shadow, has been arrested for crimes against the government."

"For what? Making you piss your pants?" She spat out, looking the man directly in the eyes.

Crow stiffened, remembering his previous experience with the dark hog,

"No… treason and stealing government property."

Rouge blinked, unsure if she had heard him correctly,

"Shadow… Shadow wouldn't. Wait, no that is impossible, I know for a fact Shadow has been with Sonic for the past few days."

"I wouldn't be so sure, he broke into a government safe and stole three Chaos Emeralds."

"And where is your proof?" The bat yelled in the man's face.

Crow turned from the emotional woman,

"We have an eye witness report from the guard he attacked, and we just arrested Shadow and found the stolen items in his home."

Rouge stepped back and looked around seeing that all possible exits had been blocked.

"If you know what is good for you," Crow spoke once more, catching the bat's eye, "I suggest you forget about that disgusting lab rat, or I might be forced to look into a possible accomplice."

Rouge's eyes narrowed. She had had enough of this vile man. She reared back her leg ready to kick his lights out, but was stopped by a gun being pointed directly at her face. Crow laughed,

"I suppose you want to do things the hard way. Detain her."

All of a sudden, the hulking robot behind Rouge whirled to life, catching everyone off guard. He pointed his own weapon at the soldier who was holding his friend at gun point. He grabbed the bat into his metal grasp with the other hand and his robotic voice echoed through the room,

"OPENING FILE, INITIATING, SHADOW'S REQUEST."

Omega turned his gun to the ceiling and away from the frightened soldier. He blew a hole in the roof and turned on his rocket thrusters. Both Omega and Rouge were out of the building and taking off through the air within seconds. Rouge still in the arms of her mechanical friend looked up to her companion,

"Omega, call Sonic."

Sonic had just arrived at his best friend house. Tails greeted him with his usual bright and naive smile. The duo had planned to go out looking for a possible lead on a Chaos Emerald. Sonic had hoped to find one and surprise his boyfriend with the gift.

"You ready?" Tails said prepping the tornado for take-off.

"You bet, I…"

Sonic was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. Sonic lifted his finger to the fox boy, to signal for him to give him a second. Sonic held the phone up to his face and answered,

"Hello, Sonic T. Hedgehog, speaking."

The voice over the other end was frazzled, and Sonic could here the sound of rushing wind in the background.

"Sonic, something horrible has happened."

"Who is this, Rouge?" Sonic questioned the caller.

"Yeah, it's me, listen we don't have much time. Shadow is in trouble."

Sonic was listening intently but focused even more upon hearing his loves name.

"It's Crow. He has framed Shadow or something. He said he stole three government owned Chaos Emeralds, and when I didn't believe him, he came after me." Rouge said franticly trying to get as much information across as quick as possible.

"Where is he?" Sonic shouted into the phone, "Where is Shadow now?"

"I don't know. Crow said he had already been arrested. But if I was to guess I'd say New Prison Island."

"Okay," Sonic collected himself and formulated a plan in his head, "Go to Angel Island and find Knuckles, tell him what's happening. You can probably hide out there for the time being, prepare to be on call if I need back up."

"Alright," the bat said taken aback by Sonic's quick actions, "But what are you going to do?"

The call ended with Sonic hanging up,

"Sonic? … Sonic?"

Rouge did as she was told and flew to Angel Island to confront Knuckles, and bring him up to speed on the current situation. Both Omega and Rouge landed on the beach of the island and began making the trek to the Master emerald shrine. Rouge fortunately knew exactly where it was, given that she had made many trips to steal the Master Emerald, and to flirt with the guardian. Rouge found the long stair case leading to the enormous rock at the top and was about to fly up when she heard a growl behind her,

"And what do you think you're doing, bat girl?"

Rouge turned around on her heels to find Knuckles standing behind her, fist in the air ready to fight. Before Knuckles could question her anymore, Rouge had rushed to him placing her hands on his shoulders and looking up at the taller male. Knuckles was caught off guard by the worry in her eyes and the pleading look she was giving him. The echidna went soft,

"W-what's wrong?"

Rouge's voice came out strained and full of fear,

"Knuckles, Shadow's been taken away by G.U.N. I don't know what they are going to do to him. They are after me now because I wouldn't go along with their heinous plan."

Knuckles looked deep into the bat's aqua eyes and could feel the pain radiating within them.

"Knuckles please, Sonic said you could help me. I don't know what Sonic is going to do but you have to help me clear Shadow's name." Rouge burst into tears, "Please he is one of my best friends, I know you two don't get along and I know I've been a nuisance to you, but he is really a wonderful person; he doesn't deserve this."

Knuckles grasped Rouge's hands gently, and lowered them so he was holding both her hand down to their sides. He then took the thumb of his boxing glove and tried to wipe away her tears that had ruined her makeup, revealing some of her natural features.

"I… I will help you." Knuckles said letting go of his pride, "Of course I will help you Rouge."

The bat was over taken by emotions and wrapped her arms around the guardian's neck. It wasn't a flirtatious hug however, it was a truly appreciative hug, and Knuckles noticed. She pulled away and whispered,

"Thank you."

Knuckles smiled at the woman,

"You're welcome."

Knuckles looked away embarrassed by the whole situation, then remembered the task at hand. He met eyes with Rouge once more,

"I think I know what to do, do you have a phone I can use?"

"Omega has a call function." Rouge said pointing to the robot observing the scene.

"Great. I just hope Sonic knows what he's doing. He tends to do crazier stuff than usual when he lets his emotions cloud his judgment, especially when his friends are involved." Knuckles said plainly.

"Oh, like someone else I know." The bat said with a wink to the red male, regaining some of her usual personality.

A crowd of pedestrians and press circled the steps to the capital building in central city. Word had gotten out that Sonic The Hedgehog had requested an urgent meeting with the president of the United Federation. The blue hog himself showed up a minute later along with Miles Tails Prower close behind. Sonic thought it would be best for Tails to tag along, just incase they tried to throw legal law mumbo jumbo at him. Cameras flashed as he ran up the steps but all the images picked up was a blue and yellow blur.

"Right this way Mister Hedgehog." A receptionist said as soon as he was in the building.

Sonic fallowed her, keeping a smile turned on for show. He was grinning though his worry like he always did, but since he had been allowed to be himself with Shadow, he was uncertain for how much longer he could keep it up.

...

NOTES

I do have a Tumbr that I once in a blue moon post mediocre art to. I just thought i'd throw that out there because i've uploaded an illustration i've done for this story and plan on uploading another one when i get to the chapter that it pertains to. So if that's something you would like to check out i'm ( maddgadd )on Tumblr if not just ignore me. :)


	14. ICouldHaveBeenALawyer

Ch. 14 I Could Have Been a Lawyer

Sonic was led to a room where the President, Commander Towers, and Major Commander Crow all stood waiting for him. Upon seeing the face of the monster that hurt Shadow, his Shadow, Sonic lunged forward and pointed a defensive finger.

"What is he doing here!?" Sonic barked out in rage.

Crow didn't flinch. He just calmly stared at the blue Mobian, attempting to seem like it was Sonic who was a loose cannon. Sonic was playing right into Crow's manipulative hands.

"Sonic, you are in front of the President." Towers said roughly, "Act appropriate."

"It's fine Abraham," the President motioned for the man to calm down, "Sonic I invited Crow here so I could see both sides to what is going on."

Sonic looked deflated,

"But Mister President, he is a liar."

The President raised his hands in defense, trying to quite his Mobian ally,

"Me and Crow are good friends, we have known each other for many years. Maybe there has been a misunderstanding, lets here him out."

Sonic opened his mouth to say something, but was grabbed on the shoulder by Tails who gave him eyes that read, lets see how this plays out. Sonic crossed his arms and nodded. The president smiled softly,

"Crow if you would tell us the report of what is going on whit agent Shadow."

"With pleasure Sir. Today at 1:34 am, Shadow the hedgehog snuck into a G.U.N secured base and attacked the guard on duty, patrolling the safe where two Chaos Emerald were being stored. He then teleported into the safe and stole them before retreating away."

Sonic flared up in anger,

"That is impossible and doesn't make sense; Shadow was with me last night, and what use would Shadow have right now for collecting the emeralds, and Crow you took Shadow's emerald from him days ago, telling him he had to for G.U.N protocol or something stupid like that."

Crow smirked,

"I did not take anything from Shadow, I didn't even know about him having one until I saw the evidence pictures from a week prior, showing he had the red emerald." Crow defended his statement, "and why exactly was Shadow with you at one thirty in the morning."

"We… Were hanging out, me and Shadow have become very close." Sonic said, seeing what Crow was trying to do. But Sonic didn't care, if it meant getting Shadow let go, then he would tell the President of the United Federation that at 1:34am exactly him and Shadow were having a romp in the sheets. Of course, it would still be Sonic's word against Crow's. Tower's eye brows had raised when Sonic mentioned becoming close with Shadow, but he remained silent. Crow spoke again,

"Well I don't know about that, but is seems to make a lot of sense to me that Shadow could be potentially working with Eggman again, and collecting the emeralds for him."

"Why would Shadow do that? He has helped to defeat the Dr. before many times." the President asked.

"Sir, Shadow has a tendency to do jobs for the highest bidder. If Eggman has something Shadow would want then it's a high possibility." Crow answered.

Sonic thought about what Crow was saying and by all accounts it made sense, if he were talking about the Shadow from five to six years ago that is; the Shadow that was searching for his past, not the one kissing him goodnight.

"No Sir, that still doesn't add up, Shadow was awakened six years ago, a lot has changed and happen since then, that's not shadows deal anymore." sonic said shaking his head as he spoke, then turned back to Crow, "and where is your proof that this even happened, because finding the emeralds at his house, that he hasn't been to for days, can easily be set up. Where are those surveillance videos that you love so much."

Crow narrowed his eyes at the hedgehog,

"All video was cut off and security was down at the time, most likely do to Shadow as well."

"That could have been because of anybody, I'm hearing a whole lot of accusations and not a lot of evidence." Tails said from behind his friend, "and honestly I find it disturbing that we are all having this conversation and Shadow is not getting a proper trial in court." Sonic nodded in agreement.

"That is because project Shadow and all its components are in custody of G.U.N!" Crow pushed out through gritted teeth.

Sonic almost spat in the mans face as he spoke,

"And what chuckle head thought that one up, Shadow is Modian, he needs to be under Mobian law, and I still don't see any Proof!"

"I have your proof right here." Crow said motioning for the guard at the door to let someone in. A human man entered the room, wearing a neck brace and a sling. His left eye was black and he looked worse for wear. The heated room suddenly went silent.

"Private Jurgens, can you give us account of what happened to you early this morning."

The man glanced around the room then nervously spoke,

"I was on guard, out side one of the safes when agent Shadow appeared out of nowhere and attacked me."

The President stood with his hands behind his back and nodded to the man,

"Please give us full detail."

"Well, he punched me in the eye with his right hand, and then when I was disoriented, he picked me up with both hands and through me against the wall."

Sonic interrupted Jurgens,

But Shadow is predominantly left-handed and that's not how shadow fights. He would have done a quick clean and precise, attack and had you out cold in a second. What you just described was to messy and he would have most likely used a kick not a punch."

Towers took Sonic's words in, but the President silenced him,

"Let the man finish."

"Then I couldn't move because I was in too much pain, but I watched him use a red Chaos Emerald to teleport into the safe and then he exited with the other two. That's what happened."

"It would seem that we were all lead astray by Shadow," Crow said in mock sympathy.

Sonic thought for a moment. He knew that Shadow was innocent, but how could he tare a hole in this guard's testimony. Sonic looked up wide eyed and became very excited,

"That's it! Jurgens explain how Shadow got into the safe exactly, in full detail."

The injured man looked down at the hog as if he was only speaking to him,

"Shadow had a red Chaos Emerald and he lifted it into the air and said Chaos control. Then he was gone. When he came back, he had two more emeralds."

Sonic turned on his heels and snapped his fingers,

Did you get that? That make no sense, Towers knows what I'm talking about."

"I'm sorry Sonic I don't fallow." The President said confused.

Sonic was wearing the most triumphant grim,

"Using the Chaos emerald to Chaos control into a safe that is only a few feet in front of him, is major over kill. Shadow doesn't need an emerald for short distances. Actually, Shadow could have gone any where he wanted, authorized or not, the entire time he has worked for gun, don't you find it odd that just now he decides to do something like this. Towers can back me up on this one."

Commander Towers smirked a little, and it kind of reminded Sonic of Shadow, when he would make the same face,

"That's right as the overseer of Shadow, I know about all of his abilities, and I have a copy of his lab records that tell about all his known powers and how they are believed to work." The Commander turned to the President, "Sir, I believe shadow to be innocent and this man to be giving a false testimony."

The guard looked back and forth between the other men in the room frantically, he then locked eyes with the hedgehog and broke down into tears and crumbled on the floor,

"I'm sorry, please don't arrest me. I admit it was all a lie."

"Why did you come up with a lie like that?" the President asked the sobbing man sternly.

"Crow threatened my family, he is the one who ordered someone to beat me up too."

Towers and the president both looked up to Crow, but he was gone. In his place the two guards that had been waiting out side the room walked in holing everyone at gun point.

"I have a feeling this is more than just about shadow." Sonic said barley under his breath.

From the intercom to the room Crow's voice was heard,

"My deepest apologies Sir, but you are just too soft of a leader, the black arms disaster would have never had happened if I was in charge. Everything you have ever done has always been too weak. This country needs a strong leader and an even stronger government. You can't rely on two rats to save the world forever. I already have so many followers, and soon everyone will submit to my rule and I will keep them safe."

"Crow, your insane. You won't win this." The President shouted out to the voice.

"We will see… Fire!"

Both guards were about to fire at will, but were taken out by Sonic spin dashing into both of them. They all could hear the storm of foot steps, like a heard of elephant coming down the hall. Sonic told Tails to grab the President while Sonic smashed though one of the windows. Sonic then took a hold of Jurgens and Towers hands, and jumped into the bushes below. The blue hero turned to his friend,

"Take all three of them back to the tornado and fly them somewhere safe, I'm gonna bust Shadow out and round everyone up."

"But Sonic, how are you going to get there?"

Sonic grinned his cocky hero grin,

"I'll just barrow a helicopter. There should be one laying around here somewhere."

Shadow had been left alone in the secured room, as he was being held in the closed stasis capsule. The freezing prosses should have taken hold of him by now but Shadow was keeping it at bay by using his energy. He was trying to stall for time, to think of a plan, but his energy wouldn't last forever and he had already started to lose feeling in his toes. He was at a loss, part of himself just wanted to give up, but the other half wanted to see Sonic and all of his friends again.

Friends…

The word hung heavy in Shadow's mind. He now had friends, Shadow thought, and lots of them too. He had done so much in the past couple months that he never thought he would get the chance to do, even when he was on the Ark he couldn't of imagined it. he was invited to parties, he had been on dates, he played a video game, he made friends, he made love, he has a boyfriend… the corners of Shadow's eyes weld up with tears as he thought about never seeing Sonic smile again, because the next time he was released if at all, Sonic would be long since dead. How was he supposed to protect this world like Maria wanted, if this world keeps hurting him an shutting him away? He supposed it was his fault for not making a good impression when he was released the first time, but what did they expect? G.U.N had killed everyone he ever knew and loved. He was lonely and with limited memories.

Shadow paused, and fear started to fill his mind. What if, Shadow echoed in his head, the stasis machine is what causes my memory loss. Shadow thought about the possibility, and found it more then he could bare. What if he forgot Maria again, what if he never remembered Sonic, or his promises, or his comrades, or his life… suddenly a strange feeling crept into Shadow psyche. It was Sonic. Shadow was sensing Sonic's Chaos signature on the island and it was even stronger than usual.

"Sonic must be upset." Shadow said to himself then realized what he had said, "Sonic?"

Had crow captured Sonic anyway. Were they going to lock him up for the rest of his life for just associating with him, or would they put him in stasis too? Shadow wasn't sure if a normal person could stay in stasis for as long as he had. Would they learn their lesson from last time they captured him, and decide to… execute him instead? Shadow froze and let the thought sink in.

Shadow began to shake violently. He pressed his hands to the glass above him and shouted,

"Chaos Blast!"

The glass and metal hatch flew off its hinges into the air, and the rest of the machine around him was unrecognizable. The smoke cleared but was soon replaced by a red aura in the air. The rest of the machinery in the room began to slowly melt as the dark hero involuntarily turned up the heat. Shadow kicked the door frantically like a caged animal, denting it until its sliding doors fell forward with a loud bang. The alien hybrid was in a blinding rage, as he stumbled out into the hall and began jumping back and forth between walls on all fours, searching for Sonic's signature. His bare feet slid across the floor only stopping when his claws gripped the ground. Shadow was in a whole other state of mind, it was feral but also alien. A guard was witnessing the strange creature coming for him in an unworldly manner and lifted his gun in fright attempting to shoot down the beast crawling along the walls then dropping to the floor. The bullets reflected off of the red energy casing that Shadow had engulfed himself with, and the soldier fearfully called over his communicator as he ran away.

"Code Red, I repeat, Code Red. Project Shadow has escaped!"

Sonic was already inside the prison walls. The blue hero crawled through an air duct and was hit in the face with a million sticky cob webs. Sonic sputtered as he tried to spit out the abandoned homes he had just destroyed with his face. Oddly the webs stopped when he got to a certain section of the vent. There must be laser sensors up a head, Sonic thought, they really upped the security to this place. Sonic was at a fork in his mental road. He wished he could just waltz in and demand Shadow, President's orders. No, that would be to easy, of course this Crow guy was absolutely nuts and hell bent on over throwing the government. Now Sonic was unsure which G.U.N members were Crow's lackeys, and which ones where just doing their jobs. Sonic didn't want any innocent people getting hurt over a misunderstanding. He felt it was best to lay low and not alarm any guards at all to avoid the situation all together.

Sonic back tracked in the enclosed space, backing his rear up, not able to turn around. He gasped in surprise when his foot broke through a loose panel and was dangling out side of the vent for the world to see. Gods, he hated stealth missions.

"Who goes there." A voice below Sonic called out.

Sonic groaned and felt something tap his exposed foot.

"Alright come out of there nice and slow." Another voice chimed in.

Sonic dropped down and held up his hands in defense,

"Okay, okay. But before we continue are you Crow's men or not?"

The two guards looked at each other confused. They usually would have already arrested the criminal sneaking onto the island, but this was Sonic, and it wasn't every day you were infiltrated by the hero of Mobius. They may have been being civil, but not that civil as they kept their weapons pointed at the hog.

"We are all under Major Commander Crow." One of the men said.

Sonic looked confused as well, then realized that theses guys have no idea what is going on. the hog might have a way out of this yet,

"No, I mean… you're not part of his evil uprising thing."

The men looked dumbfounded, then one of them spoke again,

"No…wait if Crow is evil and trying to…"

"Assassinate the president and over throw the united federation, and turn it into a militarian dictatorship." Sonic finished for the man.

"Yeah… Then what are you doing here, shouldn't you be saving the day or something."

"While I appreciate your forwardness, I have to save my friend first. He was trapped here wrongfully by Crow." Sonic smirked at the man.

"Oh, you mean, agent Shadow."

Sonic's face lit up,

"Do you know where he is? Is he alright? Did he hurt him?"

Sonic's voice was cut off by the sound of a blaring alarm going off in one second intervals, keeping in time with a red flashing light on the wall. The entire building was on lock down mode. The sliding doors behind the men had another set of thick metal doors slid over them, and lock into place.

"What the hell is going on around here?" one of the men said.

A horrendous noise was heard from behind the door. It sounded like someone ripping metal fallowed by an explosion. The two humans and the Mobian all covered their ears at the sound assaulting their ear drums. Then there was silence.

The guards turned to the door. The air was becoming thick and it felt like it was on fire. Sonic thought he was in an oven for a moment, being cooked alive. All three stood watching the door intently listening for the cause of the noise. All they heard however was a hiss, that sounded like someone running a hot pan under freezing water. The guards stepped back but kept their eyes locked on the strange occurrence in wonder. One of the men fell backwards as a pair of black clawed hands broke through the slit in the metal door, eroding the metal around them as if they were made of acid. The opening was violently pried open, and smashed into its mechanical components in the wall. On the other side, stood Shadow, hands still eating through metal and eyes wild. Sonic recognized the eyes as being the same coloring as black dooms, with silted pupils and yellowed sclera. Shadow was still in his bright yellow prison jump suit with a large radioactive symbol on one side of his chest and his prison number in the other. the collar around his neck was going crazy flashing its lights. The device was shocking him but Shadow didn't seem to notice. He was smiling but not pleasantly, it was the smile of a mad man. Shadow had lost it, as he presented his sharp teeth to the men before him. The first thing Shadow saw was Sonic, then he saw the guns in the men's hands. The beast grabbed the still standing man by the collar and effortlessly smashed him against the floor knocking him out. The other soldier that lay propped up on the floor scooted back, desperately trying to get away as Shadow came after him next with a Chaos spear. Sonic jumped in the way holding his hands out to Shadow.

Shadow stopped his advance but continued to look over Sonic and glare daggers at the man.

"Shadow please stop you'll kill him. That's not you; you don't want to do that." Sonic pleaded.

Shadow was still intent on harming the potential threat. He didn't speak he only grunted and snarled ferociously.

"Shadow please, please, look at me," Sonic grabbed shadows face with both hands and forced the dark male to make eye contact, "It's airtight, I'm here, I'm okay. They were going to help me there not bad guys."

Sonic held Shadow's face and stared into his ruby eyes which met his emerald ones and Shadow began to turn to normal.

"Sonic... Sonic!" Shadow said a little more excitedly than expected by the remaining guard.

Shadow wrapped his arms around his lover and barred his face into the crook of Sonic's neck. Sonic began to pet Shadow's quills, smoothing them out and calming them further,

"I'm here shh. Are you okay?

Shadow pulled away confused,

"Yes, but why are you here?"

"To bust you out, duh! But you kind of beat me to the punch."

"I felt your energy I thought they arrested you too and were going to kill you. I so glad you're okay." Shadow finished.

Shadow grinned, then remembered the guards that he almost maimed. Shadow turned his attention to them and presented the cowering man with a hand and an apologetic look. The man reluctantly took it. Shadow then checked the other unconscious one to see if he was alright,

"He should be okay, when he wakes up, he may have a mild concussion. Make sure you take him to the nurse on sight, I believe sonic needs my assistance, correct?"

Sonic smiled brightly,

"Yep. By the way I snagged this from Crow's evidence pile earlier while no one was looking. Your welcome."

In Sonic's hand shining bright was Shadow's red emerald.

Both hogs arrived in the city the same spot they had materialized when Shadow took Sonic to eat, the first time they really spent time together. There was a panic on the streets and some bystanders were staring at TVs in shop windows. The heroes took a closer look and saw Crow on screen in the president's office giving a speech.

"People of the United federation, we have been put in jeopardy by this faulty government for too long. We need strong leadership and even stronger defenses. With the right surveillance and military, we can know when someone will attack before they do. If our government was a fast and as direct as Sonic the Hedgehog then we would have no need for him. We wouldn't have to wait around for a bunch of rats to swoop in at the last second and save the day after so many have already been hurt. And they know it; right now, they are trying to stop me from making this country as great and as powerful as it can be. So, I implore you please stand with me."

The man on the screen continued to ramble on and on about his crazy freedom stripping ideas. Sonic and Shadow turned away and looked at each other,

"That guy is nuts, but I bet this is why he wanted you out of the way. If he couldn't control you like a weapon, then he was gonna lock you up."

Shadow nodded,

"I'm positive that he would have come after you next, but this seems like a last resort or a premature attack. He knew that with us out of the way his take over might be possible."

"Yeah well it didn't work out that way. Let figure out a plan," Sonic took a good look at shadow for the first time since rescuing him, "You look like Uma Thurman."

Shadow blinked slowly,

"Who?"

"From, Kill Bill. Never mind. When this is over you and me are having a movie marathon. I think you'll really like that one."

Shadow gave Sonic an unamused look,

"Sonic, I don't think this is the time for…"

Shadow was suddenly cut off by the sound of a voice calling his name.

"Shadow!" Rouge called out from across the street.

"Rouge! Your okay," Shadow turned to the robot next to the bat that was squeezing him in a death grip, "You did an excellent job Omega."

Omega made a motion with his body as if trying to nod. Closely fallowing behind was Knuckle, then Amy, Then Tails riding in the Tornado Walker and finally the whole of team Chaotix. Knuckles observed the display of affection from the bat that was being given to her coworker, and stared Shadow down. Shadow chose to not acknowledge it, they can all have that conversation later, right know he had to figure out what was going on.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sonic asked

"We are here to help, of course." The pink female in the crowd of friends answered.

"We came to see if anything had been figured out because you weren't answering your communicator. When we got here this craziness was happening. We have had to fend off G.U.N soldiers trying to attack us and now that Crow guy is sending out the G.U.N robots." Knuckles said ignoring his apparent competition.

"THEY MAY NOT BE EGGMAN'S CREATIONS BUT I HAVE HAD FUN ALL THE SAME." Omega chimed in.

Right on cue a swarm of G.U.N beetles rounded a corner and were heading straight for the crew.

"Alright, Rouge go after Crow and detain him, Chaotix you go and back Rouge up." Sonic looked serious, "Everyone else, fallow me!"


	15. ShadowTheHero

Warning: this chapter contains sensitive material pretaing to mental illness. So not to spoil the story please if you are sensitive to such topics scroll to the bottom and read the true warning.

Ch 15 Shadow the Hero

Vector knocked a hole through the wall to the capital building and Charmy, Espio and Rouge checked inside. The coast was clear but the bat was sure they had to have alerted someone to their presence.

"Okay, let's do this as quick as possible." Rouge said spreading her wings and soaring down the corridor.

The group disarmed all of Crow's men as they dodged bullets left and right. Espio and Charmy made sure that the incapacitated men stayed down; but for the most part as soon as the traitorous humans realized that they weren't winning, they turned tail and ran. Vector told Charmy to stay behind and make sure the coast was clear and that no one got brave and decided to come after them while they dealt with Crow.

On Sonic and Shadow's end, they weren't having much luck. The hoard of various models of bots were endless. Sonic homing attacked into a F6- T Big Foot robot, but was taken by surprise when the capsule on the front self-destructed before he could hit it. Sonic flew backwards but was caught by Shadow, who had teleported behind the blue hero. Sonic smirked at Shadow who seemed to read his mind. The dark hog picked Sonic up as the speedster began to spin. Shadow launched Sonic, sending him straight though the haul of another robot. Meanwhile, Knuckles and Amy were smashing the attackers into the ground; one with fist, the other with her hammer. They fought till they were out of breath and were being over taken by more Flying Dog. Tails circled the sky's above in the tornado, and shot the mechanical menaces down. Omega on the other hand was having the time of his life. The masses of robot began to thin out and people started to come out of their hiding spots, cheering for their heroes. A crowd surrounded the group thanking them, but Shadow was still wary,

"Everyone, this is not over yet, Crow is still on the lose please return to a safe location."

The crowd didn't pay the hog any attention in their excitement. Sonic was about to help his boyfriend out when the earth beneath them shook. A massive robot landed Infront of the Mobians and the many people surrounding them. It looked like a G.U.N Hunter, but ten times the size, it was armed with missile launchers, and pointed its weapons at the group of heroes and inadvertently at the crowd of innocent citizens.

"What is that!" Sonic shouted.

"The Mega Hunter, but it's still supposed to be in the prototype stage. Crow must be out of options." Shadow answered over the screaming masses.

"Is it going to just fire at all these people?" Knuckles yelled.

Shadow's eyes went wide as he glanced around at the terrified people in harms way. He looked behind himself as he heard a small cry. Standing behind him was a little red headed girl about five years old calling out for her mother. She looked up to him with big blue eyes that pleaded for help. The gun of the machine cocked itself at the crowd.

Rouge burst though the doors of the president's office,

"Alright Crow, give it up your plan didn't work so call off the bots."

The Chaotix stood beside the bat and prepared to fight. Crow who was looking out the window at the madness, he had caused, turned suddenly holding a gun aimed at the female's head. The group froze.

"I will not go down so easily. You know I will do it you disgusting creatures. I'm still in control."

"Are you sure about that?" a voice came from off to the side of the mad man.

Topaz entered through a secret door to the office, that lead to one of the presidential escape roots, hidden behind a book case. She aimed her own gun at Crow. The man ceased all movement, and looked to be calculating something in his head. Deafening silence fell over the group as they waited for Crow to give in. The man behind the desk looked up from his thoughts. He had made his decision,

"Yes I am."

Crow turned his own gun on himself and everyone in the room screamed,

"No!"

But it was all over in an instant. Rouge turned away from the scene, and covered her mouth, trying to keep herself together. The other two Mobians looked shocked at what they had just witnessed, and thanked Chaos that Charmy had not been present. Topaz looked stern and faced the window, praying that Sonic and the others had everything else under control.

Silent fear shot up Shadow's back at the implication of what was about to happen. A massacre. So much for wanting to protect the people of the United Federation. Everything happened in slow motion for the dark hero, as the missiles lunched from the robot's arms. Shadow wished he could do something; he wished with all his heart that this would end; he wished he could protect everyone. Shadow whipped his body around and shouted to anyone who could hear him, but he was looking directly at Sonic,

"Get down!"

Sonic and the others shut their eyes and waited for the end. Sonic heard the explosions of the impacts but felt nothing. He opened his eyes and turned to Shadow. The dark hero had his arms out stretched, shielding the small child beneath him. Behind Shadow was a wall of green, shining and reflecting off the sun like crystal. Everyone in the crowd turned to see why they had not met their end. What they saw left them stunned. A gigantic force field of Chaos energy semi circled the mass of people, protecting everyone under it. Attention was turned to the source of the miracle, which of course was Shadow. He had emerald green energy, the same as the wall, engulfing his hands and electric sparks were jolting off of his quills. The robot on the other side of the shield whacked the forcefield with its' giant arm, attempting to break through the barrier. However, on contact electricity shot through the behemoth, and it fell backwards. With one last explosion that caused smoke and debris to hit the energy window. The threat was destroyed.

Shadow himself was shocked at what he had just done. He had always had offensive attacks, but never defensive. The child who still had her eye covered with her hands, peeked through her fingers. She witnessed the hog before her as the energy dissipated behind him in beautiful fractals. She smiled up at her savior and he smiled back. Without warning, Shadow was surrounded by people both thanking him and grabbing at the introverted hero excitedly. Shadow hated it. He smiled and nodded politely through his distaste, and recomposed himself. He turned on his silent, offish, behavior after he couldn't take it anymore, and grabbed Sonic from the crowd,

"Get me the hell out of here."

Soon Rouge and the Chaotix met up with the rest of the group. Sonic waved a hand calling them over as police were keeping reporters out of the capitol building and an ambulance was arriving on scene. Sonic smiled,

"What happened? Did you arrest Crow?"

"I don't know," the hyperactive little bee, known as Charmy, said flying around in circles, "No one will tell me anything."

Rouge had a consistently disturbed face as she approached the others, and Shadow noticed immediately,

"Rouge?"

"It was pretty bad," her next words came out choked, "sorry, I've… just had a really draining day, ya know?"

Shadow went to comfort his friend by laying a hand on her shoulder but received a growl from Knuckles, who stood off to the side. The echidna pushed past the dark hog and placed his own hand on the bat, wishing to comfort her from her mentally exhausting experience.

"Alright, I'm getting fed up with this guy." Shadow said without remorse.

"What!" Knuckles yelled, turning red in the face.

"Sonic, we have to tell him." Shadow finished

Knuckles paused his fit,

"Tell me what?"

Sonic shook his head at the red male,

"Knuckles, Shadow is not trying to steal yo girl."

"She is not my girl, and how do you know?" Knuckles said, contradicting his own words.

"Knuckles, Shadow doesn't even like girls, him and Rouge are just friends." Sonic retorted, cutting right to the chase so he wouldn't confuse his thick-headed friend.

"Yeah well… Wait what?"

Sonic wrapped an arm around Shadow and winked,

"By the way, me and Shadow are dating. Is… is that okay?"

Sonic lost his confidence half way through his sentence. He wasn't sure how Knuckles would react to something like this. The echidna looked back and forth between the two hogs,

"Why are you asking me? Yeah, go for it man. I'm not your dad." Knuckles said plainly, "im just surprised that out of every one you could have picked you went with him."

Shadow made a face as if to say, that's fair.

"So, you don't care that I'm gay?" Sonic had been thrown for a loop by the red male's nonchalant behavior.

"No… That has nothing to do with me. In nature you find relationships of all sorts."

Sonic stared at his friend for a moment then said,

"Knuckles… I don't know whether I should hit you, or hug you."

Shadow stepped in and pulled Sonic even closer,

"Let's do neither and call it a day."

"Oh, now you're getting jealous?" Sonic snorted, finding Shadow's behavior cute.

The whole gang roared in laughter, epically Rouge who felt a little better after witnessing the friendly exchange, and was reminded that she fortunately, had wonderful people that were there for her.

Tails had apparently taken the President, Towers and Jurgens to Angel Island. Knuckles hadn't been happy about complete strangers on his island, even if it was the President. Once the men were returned, the President was given the run down of what had happened. He invited Sonic, Shadow and all their friends to a ceremony and press conference, in a few days, to award the valiant group for their bravery. Sonic initially declined but the president insisted. The tired hero was about to head home when he noticed something. The Chaotix were talking to Commander Towers, and it seemed to be important. Once they were done, Sonic approached the three,

"Hey guys, whatcha' conspiring over here?"

"Hey Sonic!" the crocodile shouted in his gravelly voice, "Well you see, we were kind of thrown into this madness on accident."

Espio chimed in,

"Knuckles had originally called us to help clear Shadow's name, before Crow began his take over. We were digging for anything we could find out about Crow, or Shadow."

"And?" Sonic questioned.

"We didn't find out much about Crow besides, that he had a history of mental illness that went untreated, and that his wife had been killed during the Black Arms invasion." Espio trailed off, looking solemn.

"But while the security was compromised in the G.U.N data bases, we were able to dig up some stuff about Shadow." Vector finished for the chameleon, "We found records and accounts of what happened on the Ark that had been locked away and swept under the rug because of the conspiracy, we also found Gerald Robotnik's will. I guess the guy was loaded."

Sonic raised a brow,

"Oh gods, he didn't leave it to Eggman, did he?"

Espio spoke up again,

"Fortunately, not. He actually left it to Maria Robotnik," Espio held up a printed paper and smiled, "and Shadow Robotnik."

"I don't know if that money still exists anymore, or if G.U.N took it fifty years ago, but we were trying to convince Towers to talk to someone about compensation, ya know since G.U.N kind of put Shadow through all that." The green reptile said with a toothy grin.

Sonic grinned back and with a hushed tone said,

"Okay, just get back to me if you find anything else out about it."

Sonic and Shadow returned home in a flash of light.

"I still don't understand how you did that." Sonic said.

"I told you I'm not sure myself, all I know is that the Chaos Emerald in my quills reacted… with my wishes? I might never be able to do it again, or I may have unlocked a new set of powers." Shadow thought out loud.

Sonic took off his shoes and slid across the hard wood floor with _style,_

"What ever happened, it was rad."

Shadow was about to head for the shower, but was stopped by Sonic clinging on to him. Shadow looked down at the hog and kissed his nose. Sonic responded by connecting their lips and passionately kissing his love. The kiss turned rough as Sonic snuck a hand down to Shadow's crotch and felt the dark hero up through the prison jumpsuit. Shadow pulled back,

"Sonic can you wait a bit? I missed you too, but we are filthy."

Sonic smiled seductively, with half lidded eyes,

"No, I can't. I need you now, and besides I like my men a little dirty."

Shadow's face turned completely red,

"Sonic!"

"Ha! You know I just like making you blush. Although," Sonic pressed his hand to the suit once more, "this little number isn't helping the situation."

Shadow cursed at the contact of fabric against his sensitive areas,

"Well if you insist."

Shadow growled as he went for Sonic's mouth once more. He trailed down Sonic's neck as they stood in in the blue hog's living room. Sonic nipped at Shadow's ear as his head was lowered to the blue one's chest. The blue hog pulled off his gloves and socks. He then began to grind against Shadow through his suit. They dry humped into each other as they made out. Sonic glanced down and noticed that Shadow was getting hard, creating a tent in the clothing; but more importantly he noticed that they had forgotten to get his shoes back from prison island; he thought they will have to make a trip tomorrow. Sonic was more stunned that Shadow had fought today completely bare foot. While the cerulean hero was still in his ADHD induced thoughts, Shadow took the opportunity to get the upper hand and rub the fur between Sonic's legs, exposing his member that was starting to peek through. Sonic moaned into his lover's mouth and then giggled. Sonic began to unzip the suit and kissed every inch of the black fur as it became exposed. Sonic got to the end of the zipper where Shadow's own member spring free. The excited hog was on his knees now, but Shadow pulled him back up. Sonic looked confused, but Shadow only winked at the other hog and said,

"Allow me."

Shadow got on the floor and kissed the tip of Sonic's sensitive organ, just like Sonic had done to him. Shadow then took it into his mouth and started using suction to his advantage. Sonic grabbed a hold of Shadow's ears, as if they were handle bars to stop him from falling off this intense ride. Shadow didn't mind, he was to busy enjoying the sounds that Sonic was making because of his actions. The dark one pulled away for a second but then quickly resumed, the slight stall in pleasure going unnoticed by the hog above him, who had his eyes closed. Sonic spiked up his quills when a finger made its way inside of him unannounced. Sonic covered his mouth and looked down at Shadow. This was the first-time Shadow had _inserted any part of himself inside of the male._

"Y-your being bold aren't you."

Shadow released the member from his mouth but continued to both finger and stroke the hedgehog,

"I was just doing what you always do, is that alright?"

"N-no that perfectly fine." Sonic purred out.

Shadow continued for a while until Sonic placed his hand under the dark one's chin and ushered his head up. Sonic looked nervously to the side,

"Do you w-want to have sex?"

Shadow stared at his beautiful blue angel,

"I want to do what ever you want to do."

Sonic held Shadow's hand and led him to the bedroom. The sapphire male got on his knees, on the bed, while Shadow stood on the ground. Sonic helped Shadow out of the jumpsuit leaving the dark hero completely exposed, apart from his inhibitor rings.

"Do you know how this works?"

Shadow deadpanned,

"Sonic, I'm not an idiot."

"I know. I mean, you know that you can't just stick it in, you have to… well… stretch it out first."

Sonic was blushing hard as he waited for Shadow's answer. Shadow nodded,

"Yes, I know, but I don't think saliva will be an adequate lubricant."

Sonic reached into his side table and pulled out a brand-new bottle of lube and handed it to Shadow, showing embarrassment on his face. Shadow proceeded to pour the gel on his fingers and then turned to Sonic, suddenly very nervous. Sonic was now laying on his back, legs spread eagle, presenting himself to his lover. If Shadow hadn't been turned on before, there was no going back now. Shadow carefully rubbed his fingers against Sonic's entrance, and then pushed inside. The blue male gasped as the dark one made a V shape with his index and middle finger inside of him. Shadow continued to stretch the blue hero with his fingers and then pushed them as deep as they could go. Sonic nodded to Shadow signaling that he was ready. Shadow grabbed the lube off of the side table and rubbed a little bit onto his erection. The striped hedgehog then positioned himself between Sonic's legs as the blue hog spread himself further, inviting his love inside. Shadow slowly pushed against the ring of muscle, a bit too carefully, concerned with potentially hurting Sonic. The hog underneath gasped out when Shadow entered him. He hadn't expected it to feel this different from his fingers but it did. Sonic winced in a tiny amount of pain,

"Are you alright?"

Sonic looked at Shadow's face as the dark hog held onto Sonic's raised legs and was buried inside of the blue one. The features on the dark male indicated that Shadow was in heaven, but probably needed to slowdown as well.

"Me? I'm fantastic. Don't concern yourself with me. Are you alright?"

Sonic smiled gently at Shadow,

"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me a sec to adjust."

Shadow leaned down and kissed Sonic keeping his pelvis stationary. After about a minute or two Sonic separated his lips from Shadow and whispered,

"Okay, now."

Shadow pressed further into Sonic and hissed when he hilted, and the blue one through his head back. Shadow had never felt these sensations; he never imagined sex feeling this good. Shadow began to slowly move back and forth and eventually gained more speed and a steady rhythm. They laid on the edge of the bed like that, with Sonic on his back, legs in the air, and Shadow feet planted on the floor and leaning over Sonic. The younger Mobian was moaning into the air with each thrust. He reached down and started to stoke himself, but Shadow snatched the hand and held both of Sonic's limbs above him, just like Shadow would do when he would detain a criminal. Sonic gulped as he felt one strong hand hold him effortlessly in place, and the other pump him up and down.

"Not this time. Just relax." Shadow purred out.

Shadow was now hunched over Sonic, engulfing him with his body. Sonic felt Shadow's muscles flex above him, as he was pressed into the bed. The submissive hog choked on a cry as Shadow increased his speed both inside and out of him. Suddenly, Sonic yelled out when he felt the intense feeling of Shadow unintentionally hitting his prostate. Shadow stopped and looked at the hog who pretty much had just screamed.

"Did I hurt you?"

"N-no... It wasn't pain. D- don't stop." Sonic shook as he spoke.

Shadow took the hint and continued to do exactly what he had done to make Sonic yelp like he had. Fortunately for Sonic, Shadow has very good muscle memory. Shadow pounded into his love roughly, as he approached his limit. Sonic was a whimpering, whining mess. The dark hero was panting heavily with his face inches away from Sonic's. Shadow released the fawn hands and pink member and placed his own hands beside Sonic's head, so he could gain more momentum. Sonic yanked at Shadow's mass of black quills and arched his back in pleasure. Sonic was on the verge of coming undone,

"Shadow! Shadow! I'm..."

Sonic dug his small brown claws into Shadow's scalp and wrapped his legs around his boyfriend's waist. A strange, instinctual, urge came over the hybrid and he sank his canines into Sonic's shoulder. The action sent Sonic over the edge, and he came hard, all over his fawn colored belly. Sonic's convulsing walls caused Shadow to cry out as he ejaculated inside his lover's body. Shadow collapsed on top of Sonic and they both laid like that for a long while as they came down from the clouds. Shadow licked the freshly broken skin and moved his eyes to meet emerald irises,

"I'm sorry… I felt… was that a normal thing to do?"

Sonic breathed out slowly, recollecting himself,

"Uh, yeah. I mean in this situation it was."

Shadow creased his brows,

"What situation is that?"

"The one where I love you."

They laid next to each other until Sonic rolled over looking at his stomach fur, bothered by the sticky mess. He realized he smelled. He turned to Shadow whose fur was disheveled and sweaty as well,

"We're gross."

Shadow smirked with his eyes closed,

"I told you. I would like to take a shower and sleep for a couple days."

Sonic flared up as he spoke halfheartedly scolding his boyfriend,

"Oh no you don't. besides, we got to go see the Prez in a couple days and if I have to go, so do you."

Shadow opened one eye, to see his boyfriend staring up at him, and then closed it again. He smiled contently and pulled Sonic close, holding his love in his arms.

...

WARNING:

Character death, none graphic suicide but suicide none the less, physiological trauma.


	16. Announcement

Hey quick announcement, I just realized that chapter 9 had been cut off and I have Gone this entire time without realizing it. that being said I fixed it. I'm sure it was very confusing jumping from chapter 9 to chapter 10 and leaving the whole Amy situation unresolved. I don't know what happened the only thing I can think of was some kind of glitch on my phone because I use the app to update these here and it was perfectly fine on my AO3 account which I predominately use because it's simpler. So please inform me if you see any more odd places where story has been cut off and feel free to go back and read the end of chapter 9 lol. The last chapter will still be up on Monday here and on my AO3 account. Thanks for the support as always.

:)


	17. ANewStartANewAdventure

Ch 16 A New Start

Shadow woke up early in the morning, way before Sonic even attempted to stir. Today was the day they would speak with the President at the ceremony and the dark hog was playing it off pretty well that he wasn't anxious. He tried to relax by having breakfast, sitting outside and listening to the waves, and watering his new ferns that Sonic had purchased for him. Shadow's loft had for the most part been destroyed. It was sad for him to give up his first home on earth but he had no desire to return after it was rebuilt. Shadow had decided that he much preferred Sonic's company over constant solitude and Sonic felt the same. Besides Sonic was allowing him to build his collection of foliage back up, at his place. Shadow's ears perked up when he heard the sound of a lazy hedgehog wake from his slumber and open the living room window to take a peek at his love. Sonic rested his chin in his hand and gazed out at the ocean view. He then turned his eyes to Shadow and said,

"I was thinking about a mourning run before we have to go. Do you want to join me?"

Shadow smiled,

"I can."

The blue hero twisted his muzzle into a challenging grin,

"Cool, lets race."

Outside the Central City, city hall, a stage had been set up and thousands of people had gathered around to witness the day's events, the President of the united federation was going to make a public comment in regard to the events of a few days prior and to acknowledge the nations heroes. Just out of sight behind the temporary stages curtain stood a black and red hedgehog who bared a stony face, but on the inside was dying. Shadow was nervous beyond belief; the entire city was just beyond the red piece of fabric that hung from above, and they were all going to stare, and make comments, and who knows what else. The only saving grace for the hero was that his boyfriend would be by his side. Sonic the hedgehog rounded the corner and happily approached his love,

"Ya okay? You seem tense."

"I'm fine." Shadow said in a way that indicated that he obviously was not.

Sonic softly smiled at the brooding male and wrapped him in a hug,

"You got this, and I'll be right here next to you. No one's gonna trash talk my boyfriend on my watch. Don't they know I'm dating the ultimate life form? Go big or go home I always say."

Shadow laughed under his breath at Sonic's animated movements,

"I suppose they don't know that, and yes I would say you have very high standards."

Sonic grinned but then looked away in thought.

The ceremony was about to begin and all of Sonic's friend who had helped to defeat Crow's uprising were present on stage, along with Towers and Topaz. An announcer called out for the crowd to stand in honor of the President. The tall blue suited, man himself walked out onto the stage. He stopped in front of a podium in the middle of the raised platform and spoke into the connected mic,

"Welcome everyone, I have already given my official statement on the events of July twenty eighth, and I know that the situation if it had not been handled so strategically by team Sonic and friends, well… then I may not be up here In front of you today. This however is a day of, celebration a day to honor our heroes for their service. So, without further ado I'd like to call Commander Towers up to the front for a moment."

The grey-haired officer walked up to the front in military fashion and saluted the president.

"I have known commander Towers for many years and he has always been by my side through to good times and the bad, so I'm honored to announce that Abraham towers will be taking on the role of Major commander, head of G.U.N."

Everyone in the crowd clapped as Towers stood tall and allowed his new badge to be placed upon him.

"Now I'd like to welcome Lieutenant Topaz to the front." The president continued.

Topaz ceased her clapping and stared shocked, but quickly regained her senses and walked up to the podium.

"Michelle Topaz, due to your bravery and great tenacity in the face of danger, I'd like to announce that you shall be the new commander, and head of team dark." The president placed Topaz's new badge on her as well, "Congratulation Commander Topaz."

The president had the two humans stay up at the podium with him and help hand out the medals of honor to all the Mobians on stage. The last to receive a metal was Shadow. Just as the dark hog stepped forward the entire city of people cheered and hooped and hollered. This took everyone, including Shadow, by surprise. They even cheered more than when Sonic had walked up for his award. Shadow wanted to retreat. He quickly looked behind him but he was only met with Sonic's bright loving smile and a thumbs up, encouraging him to continue. Shadow was presented with his medal and just as he was about to quietly slink away, the President stopped him,

"Hold on one moment agent Shadow. Major Commander Towers, if you would."

Towers nodded and turned his full attention to the dark hero,

"Shadow the hedgehog, in light of all that has happened I believe that this is long overdue.

Towers held out a stapled document to the hog,

"This is your copy of your legal citizenship documents; you have the same rights as everyone else."

Shadow looked down at the papers in his hands then looked up to the man with a grin and said a soft,

"Thank you."

Topaz handed Shadow a small envelope and whispered,

"Open it later."

Towers looked down at the hero with a knowing smile.

The president spoke up again,

"let's give it up one more time for the bravery of our heroes, Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Knuckle, Tails, Amy Rose, Vector, Espio, and Charmy."

The crowd roared and confetti was thrown into the air. As the colorful paper fluttered to the ground Sonic leaned over to Shadow,

"I know you're nervous but please don't hate me for this."

"What do you…"

Shadow was not allowed to finish, because Sonic had captured him into a passionate kiss in front of the mass of civilians and live television. A mixture of responses came from the crowd, some gasped, some applauded, some hollered in excitement, some of the young female Mobians cried, and some of the males grinned. Not far from the love birds a pink hedgehog squealed and proceeded to fan her face with a hand, earning looks from her friends. Sonic pulled away and Shadow attempted to hide his heated face in the blue one's shoulder. Sonic nervously spoke,

"Sorry I just didn't know how else to announce it."

"Fucking… I don't know. Words would have been adequate."

Sonic barked out a laugh at Shadow's word choice and realizing that his boyfriend was right. There was no going back now, the entire interaction had been caught on camera and would most likely be all over the news in minutes. Shadow removed himself and stared at Sonic with laughter behind his eyes as well. The new Major Commander was wide eyed and silently looked away recalling Sonic had said that they had grown close.

After the ceremony, Shadow was by himself. Sonic was making his rounds with all his friends while also fending off any citizens that was willing to sneak back stage to bother the reclusive dark male. Shadow definitely not used to people asking for his autograph, or people knowing who he was in general. A little girl did get permission to cut through the velvet rope and approach the hero however. It was the same red headed little girl from three days prior. She held out here hands and presented shadow with a drawing. She was very shy and didn't speak. Shadow knelt down, not too much because she was human after all, and took the paper. The drawing was a rough juvenile sketch done in crayon of him and what seemed to be the little girl standing together around them was messily scribbled green. Shadow could only assume that was his force field. In the image Shadow noticed his torso and leg were colored yellow. Shadow was confused for a moment until it hit him; the jumpsuit. Shadow cringed, not because it had been a prison outfit but because of what Sonic and him had done in that suit. It just dint seem appropriate for a young child to be drawing such a thing. Shadow smiled though his unease,

"This is very good. Thank you. I'll hang it on my fridge."

The girl nodded but then looked conflicted. She wanted to say something but was to nervous.

"Are you and mister Sonic married?"

Shadow went wide eyed then the corners of his mouth involuntary tugged. He began to laugh a low sweet laugh and gently smiled at the girl,

"Maybe one day we will. Right now, he is just my boyfriend."

The girl beamed brightly at the kind man before her,

"Okay."

And with that she turned around and ran back to her parents.

Shadow pulled himself off the ground and gingerly tucked the folded drawing into his quills but felt something else in the process. He pulled out the envelope from earlier having forgotten all about it. Shadow opened it up and began to scan the document inside. At this point Sonic came bounding over, but stopped when he saw that from behind a paper ruby eyes were intent and tan lips were a gape.

"What?"

Shadow glanced up at his boyfriend still in shock,

"I...I..."

Sonic was now very concerned. So much had happened he expected the worst.

"Shadow let me see."

Sonic walked around Shadow and stood beside him reading the paper as well. Sonic own jaw dropped when he got to the bottom; he had never seen so many zeros in his life. The check at the end of the document looked like a ring trail. It seemed like Chaotix had come through in the end yet again. At this moment Commander Towers walked up to the gawking pair,

"Ah, I see you've opened your surprise. I'm sure this will last you some time.

The man softened his gaze,

"I know you quit but just know that you will always be a part of team dark. Is it possible for me to convince you to become an agent for hire?"

Sonic cut in the conversation,

"Nah he's officially a member of team Sonic now, right Shads?"

Shadow side eyed Sonic with raised brows then shifted his ruby irises back to Towers,

"Nope. Absolutely not. Towers just call me when you have work."

Sonic stuck his tongue out at the dark male and was flick on the nose in response. Towers blinked at the two then muttered to himself,

"I feel like I don't know anything anymore."

Months had passed and the crisp December air flouted along with wind and turned noses red with just one touch. One of those noses being Sonic's who was bundled up in a bright red scarf and a grey wind breaker. He covers his muzzle with the scarf and clutched his coat tight with his hand. The other hand was being held by the blue hogs own personal heater that only wore a green and gray striped button up. He was also sporting a pair of black skinny jeans but that was just for look. The two hedgehogs reached their destination_; Katt's House of Cheesecake_. The sing was in pink letters and the a had a pair of cat ears painted on top. Shadow held the door open for sonic and sonic just rolled his eyes; but he secretly liked his boyfriend's chivalrous mannerisms.

Once inside they were led to a table where all of their friends were seated talking among themselves. Rouge noticed Shadow and waved them to take a seat,

"Well there's the birthday boy, you late for your own party."

Shadow huffed. He still didn't know how to feel about having a birthday since he was never technically born. Sonic had insisted though and of course everyone knew who was really in charge.

"We would not have been tardy if it hadn't been for Sonic." Shadow said with an expressionless face.

Sonic piped up,

"I like to be fashionably late."

"That excuse doesn't work if you hardly wear clothing." Shadow snapped playfully at the other.

Shadow looked up when he heard someone call him over. It was Cream and she was smiling wide and patting the seat next to her,

"Mister Shadow, sit next to me, please."

Shadow did as he was asked and took the empty seat. Sonic did the same in the chair next to his boyfriend. The eleven-year-old handed the dark male a crayon and pointed to a coloring sheet that she had been given by the hostess,

"We can play the puzzles while we wait." The rabbit stated, "Thank you for inviting me to your birthday mister Shadow. I thought you would want to have an adult party like mister Sonic did for his."

Shadow marked an x in one of the puzzle boxes with a blue crayon,

"You're welcome, I always enjoy your company Miss Cream. And no, not for me, besides this not a special birthday like it was with Sonic. He had turned twenty-one with his."

"Oh yes, I forgot," Cream continued to plan her next move, "How old are you today?"

Shadow pondered for a moment trying to add up everything in his head,

"Well I… I suppose today is my sixtieth year."

Cream's eyes shot up at the hog. The rabbit looked him over then refocused on his face. Shadow was unsure of Cream's knowledge of him and felt like the young girl was going to try and call him out for lying. She didn't however, she only smiled,

"That seems like a very special number to me."

Shadow and Cream kept to themselves while Sonic and everyone else talked. They all ordered their food and soon it was presented to the table. The whole gang dug in. Sonic shared some of his food with Shadow, wanting the dark male to taste what he had had ordered. Shadow took a bite off of Sonic's fork and received an _eww _from a small bee from across the table,

"Cooties!"

Everyone snickered to themselves as Sonic's face turned a deep crimson.

"Hey leave us alone, we are healing right now," Sonic said puffing out his cheeks, "don't you know Shadow has been apparently cheating on me?"

"Again." Knuckles laughed from the end of the table sitting a little too close to a certain bat.

Rouge rolled her eyes,

"Eh, those trashy magazines have to pull in readers somehow I guess."

At this point the waitress had made her rounds back to the table with a cheery peppy smile. She was obviously putting on a show for the group. She refilled a couple of the empty glasses then said,

"Did you enjoy your meal?"

Shadow spoke suddenly with the straightest of faces,

"No, it was absolutely dreadful, I had to eat it all just to save everyone else."

The overly cheery face of the waitress suddenly dropped as she awkwardly stared at the hog. The whole table went silent, but then suddenly burst in laughter starting with Sonic. Everyone was in hysterics not just over what Shadow had said but the prospect of the edgy male making a joke in the first place. Sonic leaned into Shadow who was silently wishing he hadn't said anything because of all the attention he was now getting,

"You'll have to excuse him he's just messin' with ya."

The waitress finally registered what the dark hog had actually said and nervously laughed as well,

"Oh, yes. Um… can I get you any desert for this evening?"

"Yes, I already talked to them in the kitchen, they know what we want."

The waitress brought five cheese cakes of various flavors around to the table. The strawberry one seemed to have some sort of writing on it. The words _Happy Creation Day_, in bright red letters adorned the desert. Shadow turned to see Sonic's face which was looking as if it was about to explode. Shadow rolled his ruby irises then let them rest on the waitress,

"Thank you very much."

"Is it like an inside joke?" She asked with a nervous grin.

Sonic bust out in laughter behind the dark hog,

"Something like that."

After she had left, Shadow quickly shot his arm out for Sonic's arm pit, tickling him mercilessly,

"You think you're funny, huh?"

Sonic howled not noticing the many looks he was attracting from giggling friends.

After everyone had stuffed their faces the bill came around to the table. Shadow took the little black book with the tab in it while everyone was fishing their money out. He placed his debit card in the little slot and handed it back to the woman,

"Run."

The female promptly did as she was told and power walked away. The absence of the waitress was finally noticed by Rouge who said,

"Where is the bill? Shadow you didn't… where, is she?"

Sonic realized what his boyfriend had done,

"Dude this is supposed to be your birthday, not ours. And you just got that money don't go blowing it."

Shadow gathered his things which included a to go box and sonic's coat that had been forgotten about in the seat,

"You know money means nothing to me. I'm happy to pay for my friends."

Rouge blinked at what shadow had just nonchalantly through out there, but chose not to ruin the moment.

After everyone was packed up and ready to go their separate ways shadow stopped the Chaotix on their way out the door. He handed them their own personal cake, to which their eyes lit up.

"Aww man, thanks Shadow."

"It was nothing, besides I would not have the funds I have it had not been for you three. That reminds me, here."

Shadow handed Vector a check,

"This should cover the investigation you did."

The crocodile looked like he was going to cry. Pay day had finally come.

Shadow caught up to sonic across the street after the exchange with the detectives. Sonic reached his hand out for shadow to take it and the dark male obliged. The blue hero leaned close and whispered,

"I'm proud of you and all you've done."

Shadow whispered as well,

"Same to you."

They both looked longingly at each other for a moment before a cold breeze snapped sonic from his daze,

"Sooo… what do you want to do the rest of the night?"

Shadow started walking with sonic in tow,

"hmm. Maybe we could go on an adventure. A sonic and shadow adventure."

"Only you and me." sonic stated now very excited and curious.

"Just us." Shadow answered back, releasing Sonic's grasp and jogging forward in a random direction. Sonic fallowed suit and soon they both were racing at incredible speeds off to their next adventure.

Sent from for Windows 10


End file.
